Roads agency says third flyover will be finished month ahead of schedule

The third flyover as part of the Marsa Junction Project will be completed a month ahead of schedule, Infrastructure Malta said. 

Infrastructure minister Ian Borg said in a statement on Saturday that 50% of the project is already complete, with beams on the third and longest flyover being placed on Saturday morning.

"A little over a month ago we were here to inaugurate the first structures; today we are witnessing the placing of beams on the third and longest flyover which we had announced would be opened by the end of January. Today, we can announce that this structure will be completed by the end of this year, a month ahead of schedule," he said in a statement.

The €70 million investment was the subject of some controversy over the past few weeks as pictures of 'cracks' in the structure were doing the rounds on social media last week amidst reports that the celebratory inauguration of the first flyover had cost the government around €40,000. 

Borg downplayed the claims of cracks or potholes in the structure as false news and said that the flyover would still require another layer of asphalt and the installation of an expansion joint.

"This project is already bearing the desired fruit. More than half a million people have used the flyover we opened, more than half a million people have already saved 12,000 hours of traffic. We are speaking about people that were always forgotten, but this government chose not to forget them and our vision for our country is wider and looks further, because we will not stop with this junction," Borg said. 

Borg stressed how important it is for the entire country to have efficient, high-quality and safer infrastructure and made reference to the ongoing investment nearby on the Santa Lucija tunnels as well as to the €64 million investiment in 14 arterial road projects in 2019. 

The third flyover structure will create a direct northbound connection between Triq Aldo Moro and Vjal Santa Luċija and will be the longest one with the length of two football grounds until it joins the highest part of the first flyover in Triq Aldo Moro, one of the two already being used.

Borg said that development was moving quickly but that the government was ploughing ahead responsibly and delivering quality infrastructure.