The Cretan State showed great interest in all of the above problems, and set about implementing major public works projects. A new stone quay was built at the harbour, and the demolition of the Mole Gate, the Arsenal Gate and part of the Venetian arsenals facilitated communication between the commercial centre in the town and the port. New breaches in the walls next to the St. George Gate and the Pantocrator Gate (Chania Gate) also aimed to ease traffic flow.
There were of course plans which could not be carried out for lack of money. Without doubt, the most ambitious of these was the railway line planned to link Heraklion to the large, fertile Messara Plain. The railway would have enabled the rapid, low-cost transportation of agricultural produce to the port, which had become the main commercial hub and export centre.