Slow Streets Malta

The Slow Streets Malta project, launched in June 2020 by the Local Councils’ Association Malta together with the Ministry for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government and in coordination with Transport Malta and the Ministry for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, addresses issues in relation to safety, urban space, vehicular presence and urban vitality within localities, while seeking to create safer and better connected walking and cycling networks within and between localities. Many local streets are relegated to being primarily traffic arteries. Vulnerable pedestrians, notably elderly residents and children, have to compete with constant presence of vehicles on local streets, exacerbated by the incidence of high speeds therein. The continuity of the urban form, the lack of comprehensive traffic management strategies and the convenience offered by the directionality of local street networks, have also contributed to significant volumes of through traffic. Slow Streets Malta aims to introduce safe and sustainable mobility within Local Councils, through a number of complementary strategies, while aspiring to return valuable urban space within localities to people as more pedestrian-oriented, or even fully pedestrian, environments. 43 Local Councils have committed to this project, together with the support of several Authorities and NGOs.