Labour pledges funds for bypass footbridge in next Budget

A Labour government will allocate money for a pedestrian crossing at the Mriehel bypass in the next Budget, according to Joseph Muscat. He said the pedestrian crossing was needed for the safety of a small community that was isolated from the rest of Qormi when the bypass was built in the 1990s. "No community is small enough," he insisted, recalling that in 2010 Government MPs had voted against a motion put forward by Labour MPs from the district for the construction of a footbridge or underpass. The issue gained notoriety when two teenage girls were killed in 2005 after they were run over while crossing the bypass to reach their houses. On various occasions the Government had pledged to build a footbridge but plans were scrapped in this legislature. Dr Muscat was speaking inside the living room of a Qormi family that opened its house to his entourage and journalists because of the bad weather. The Labour leader noted that Transport Minister Austin Gatt had argued against the footbridge because studies had shown only 40 people a day crossed the bypass. "This is a fallacious argument, especially coming from someone who built a bridge to nowhere in Grand Harbour that is used by no...