The collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoa, which caused the death of 43 people, made reverberations all over the world, not only in Italy.
The blame game quickly began, with the Italian government pointing fingers at the European Union and the private sector for lack of funds and maintenance, while residents mourned the victims and called for better upkeep of the infrastructure.
The debate spilled over to Malta too, and questions started being raised about our own bridges and flyovers, built over many years under different administrations to improve the traffic flow and ease access from one point to another.
The first bridge that made it to the news was that one that forms part of the Hamrun by-pass, with photos showing that the structure has not been well-maintained while the Transport Ministry assured one and all that there is no danger and that repairs are planned.
More recently, the promenade in Balluta Bay was partly closed off to the public after The Malta Independent alerted the ministry to potential problems to the columns supporting the stretch of road where thousands of people take a stroll each and every day, apart from the thousands of cars that make use of this popular road linking St Julian's with Sliema.
There is no doubt that the Labour government is giving great attention to the road network in Malta. After the completion of the Coast Road and Kappara flyover, work is underway to widen the Hamrun by-pass while the project to make the intersections near the Addolorata Cemetery is in its initial phases. There are other pockets that need to be seen to in what is known as the north-south connection, including the stretch in St Andrew's which is always a bottleneck area for traffic.
But, apart from the building of new roads as well as the widening of others, the authorities – the ministry and Transport Malta – must not ignore the maintenance of existing structures. We are not only referring to the already-mentioned bridges and flyovers which need constant attention, but also to the regular upkeep of roads, such as surfacing needs.
Too many roads are left neglected with the result that potholes emerge while, in other areas, the irregular surface makes driving a rather bumpy experience which could also be dangerous, if drivers are caught unawares or are driving at speed.
Going back to bridges and flyovers, the Genoa bridge collapse makes it imperative on the government and Transport Malta to carry out assessments on the current structures and, where needed, come up with a list of priorities of when any repairs/maintenance work will be carried out. This list should then be made public to put people's minds at rest that the authorities are doing all they could to prevent any accidents from happening.
It would be a sad day if Malta were to go through the same tragedy as Italy did a few weeks ago, simply because there is neglect.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2LJL9FG
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment