GSD calls Line Wall reopening a ‘victory’

The GSD has called the full re-opening of Line Wall Road a “victory”, describing the project as a “complete failure of vision for transport and the green agenda”.

The response from the GSD comes after the Government re-opened Line Wall Road earlier this week.

“This is a victory for the people of our community and a victory for common sense,” the GSD said.

“Whilst the Government say that they will go back to the drawing board they will also need to learn big lessons from the planning failures that caused widespread public outrage at their incompetent handling of traffic and transport policy.”

“The Government's conduct of the intended Line Wall closure and the numerous versions of it that were rolled out over a short period can only be described as a comedy of errors where our people witnessed first-hand the chaotic scenes on our roads for months.”

Last week No.6 Convent Place said the decision to reopen one of Gibraltar’s main arteries followed the completion of a data collection exercise that assessed the impact of restrictions on flow and traffic management.

The closure of the road had created knock-on queues in other areas of Gibraltar including Queensway and had proved controversial.

The GSD said the Government had “failed to accept reality”.

“we have over 40,000 registered vehicles, an ageing and ill equipped infrastructure, a bottlenecked frontier, a serious lack of real cycling lane and safe alternatives and a rapid loss of parking bays not to mention increased parking charges,” the Party said.

“For radical solutions to work they have to be well-planned and other support measures such as park and ride and more frequent public transport have to be in place before they are introduced. Serious questions remain as to the capacity and capability of the Government in managing traffic and transport policy for the benefit of all in our community.”

Shadow Minister for Transport, Health and the Environment, Elliott Phillips hit out at the “poor handling” of the project, adding he will be asking for the cost of this exercise.

"We will not let the Government off the hook for their very poor handling of the Line Wall Road debacle,” Mr Phillips said.

“We will continue to cross examine the Government in Parliament and in the media by asking how much these failures of planning have cost our community.”

“People deserve to know the cost.”

“The Government and Transport Minister Vijay Daryanani especially have shown that they are completely out of touch with the realities of how normal working families move about out City and once they have licked their wounds it is hoped that the Government will finally set out about developing a cohesive strategy which is both environmentally sustainable, effective and consistent."