“Lagos-Ibadan Expressway traffic is now so bad that vendors cook and sell rice and bean in open plates, would wait for you to finish eating, collect plates and wash to serve the next vehicle, This is how bad the gridlock is ” a motorist lamented.
For about two weeks running, the unending construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has continued to subject motorists and commuters to untold hardship.
In what seemed to be the mother of traffic gridlock, motorists and commuters plying the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway woke up on Saturday morning to the grim terrible gridlock which affected traffic mostly, outward Lagos and Berger environs.
There were stranded commuters sighted around Kara Bridge, trekking to their various destinations.
The gridlock has often time resulted in ghastly auto crashes.
Those who spoke with Vanguard expressed their ordeal which they described as “horrible.”
They lamented the loss of loved ones to accidents, loss of man-hours and suffering health challenges due to the traffic caused by the ongoing reconstruction of the expressway.
They also accused the traffic management team on the road comprising men of the police, Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, and state agencies of insensitivity, even allowing motorists drive one-way instead of enforcing road transport codes for seamless movement.
For Yomi Lawal, a worker on the Island, travelling through the popular Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to his workplace has become a cross he must carry daily.
The movement, for him, has become horrendous as he spends about three hours instead of 20 minutes between Mowe and Otedola Bridge in Lagos due to the prolonged traffic situation on the expressway.
“Many motorists no longer go to their offices and businesses in their cars. They leave them at home and take commercial buses or motorcycles (okada) to Berger Bus Stop in Lagos from where they continue the journey, depending on the nature of the traffic jam,” Lawal said.
He called on the Federal Government to mount pressure on the contractor handling the road construction, to expedite action on the project, noting that many people living along the Mowe-Ibafo axis have relocated to Lagos due to the daily gridlock, while travellers diverted to Ikorodu-Sagamu Road with long hours every day
Another road user, Christiana Dada, a businesswoman, also narrated her ordeal.
According to her, the seemingly unending road construction has resulted in the loss of human lives, time and money.
She recalled a particular Monday morning she left home around 6. a.m. but could not get to her destination at Ojota until 11.00 a.m., after spending about six hours in the gridlock.
“The experience goes on for six days every week. It is terrible. I don’t have good sleep anymore, I don’t have enough rest. This is inimical to good health. We need help.”
According to a commercial bus driver, Tajudeen Alao, commuters always have a hard time navigating the long bridge due to the traffic situation.
He said the traffic situation has been compounded by preparations for the Sallah Festival with high influx of traffic while expressing the hope that the ordeal will be over soon.
He said: “This situation has really affected me and other bus drivers. We buy fuel at an exorbitant price and end up burning it out in traffic. It is a big loss for many commercial drivers since the beginning of the road reconstruction.”
Earlier, stakeholders, comprising officials of the Federal Ministry of Work and Housing, the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, TRACE, the Nigeria Police, among others had considered new measures to reduce gridlock on the expressway.
One of the outcomes of the meeting was the setting up of a special task force, alongside other measures, to tackle the gridlock.
Lagos reacts
To ease off gridlock, the Lagos State Government on Friday, announced traffic diversion on the expressway and released alternative routes available for the motoring public.
Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Engr. Abdulhafiz Toriola, who announced this in a statement, explained that traffic diversion on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway became imperative as the construction works on the corridor reached its concluding stage.
He said the diversion plan as announced by the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mrs Olukorede Kesha, the traffic diversion slated for Saturday, 24th June 2023, had alternative routes open for commuters.
Toriola said the exit from the New Garage bus stop on Lagos bound carriageway en route River Valley Estate, Isheri and Ogunusi Road would be closed to traffic.
The permanent secretary added that all traffic from Kara Bridge on Lagos bound carriageway heading to River Valley Estate, Isheri and Ogunusi Road would then be diverted to the exit immediately after Kara Bridge through Limson Road to connect their respective destinations.
“Alternatively, motorists can also make use of the U-turn by the Vehicle Inspection Services, (VIS) and the Federal Road Safety Corps, (FRSC) Office at Ojodu to connect the expressway through the Lagos State Public Works Office/BRT bus stop,” he stated.
“We have directed LASTMA personnel along the corridor to ensure free flow of traffic along the axis,” Toriola stated.
He, therefore, urged motorists to obey traffic signs and the directives of the traffic management personnel deployed to ensure seamless movement within the corridor.
Meanwhile, as of press time, indications have shown that the directive has achieved little or no effect as motorists were trapped in traffic for several hours.
One-way drive/ road carnage
Recall that in the early stages of the construction, it was a harvest of tears, anger and anguish, as four died while five people were rushed to nearby hospitals in the Arepo community, following an accident involving a trailer and Lexus 350 in front of Rabade Filling Station, Arepo.
It was gathered that the trailer heading to Sagamu rammed into the Lexus, which cleared over five motorbikes on one way. This led to the death of those on motorbikes as well as some intending passengers in front of the filling station.
Also, there had been a series of fatal auto crashes along the Otedola Bridge due to the ongoing road construction.
Passengers have been warned to desist from taking one-way, as many souls have been lost since the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway started some months ago.
The federal government has therefore been urged to speed up the construction works to avoid more loss of lives.
