As contractors returned to the site after the holiday season to continue work on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, some motorists on Thursday urged the Federal Government to take more steps to ease traffic congestion.
Work on the OPIC axis, which caused traffic jams and misery for local road users, was put on hold in December for the holiday season to facilitate travel, which was a relief for drivers.
According to information obtained from Section One of the roadway on Thursday, workers who returned to the site on Tuesday were spotted there between Kara and OPIC on the side facing Lagos. They were putting new construction materials on some areas while also scarifying other areas with earth-moving equipment.
Additionally, officers from TRACE and the Federal Roads Safety Corps could be seen directing traffic at the OPIC/Fatgbems filling station. While praising the speedy return to the site, some road users emphasised the need to lessen the suffering brought on by bottlenecks near construction sites.
The swift restart of construction was praised by Mr. Osas Idohasa, a commercial bus driver who runs the Ikeja-Ojodu and Wawa-Arepo routes, but he also made a call for quick completion of the project and prompt action against traffic.
To minimise loss of money and man-hours, Idohasa stated he will henceforth research the traffic situation before transferring passengers on the Wawa-Arepo axis of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. He said, "How much do I make each day that I will permit myself to sit in traffic?"
Beger-Arepo commercial motorbike operator Mr Tirimisiu Adigun made a plea for the creation of alternate routes to relieve traffic and make the roadway safer.
Additionally, Julius Berger was urged by Mr Suleiman Alabi, a tipper driver at the Fatgbems Bus Stop, to give back to society by constantly using recyclable building materials to fix potholes along the route and enhance the driving experience.
“Government should tell Julius Berger to go and grade that other lane at Wawa to Fatgbems. They should use all these waste materials to go and fill all the bad portions there. They should do it as their corporate social responsibility. I personally dropped 12 trips of rubbles there as part of my own contribution to prevent accidents and save businesses. No one paid me,” he said.
They expressed worry over crime and criminality perpetuated between Berger and the Long Bridge, usually caused by the gridlock while lamenting that the situation was usually worse at night.
Responding, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mr Umar Bakare, said Julius Berger was working to quickly fix portions between Kara and Long Bridge that they could not complete before the holiday.
Bakare, who is in charge of Section One of the project which spans Ojota in Lagos to Sagamu Interchange, said alternative routes around OPIC and Isheri would be rehabilitated to ease congestion.
He said adjoining Isheri Road that passes in front of OPIC would be upgraded and made motorable to accommodate traffic spillover caused by diversions when work moves to the Ibadan-bound lanes.
The controller said that roads adjacent to the Otedola Bridge Section on the highway around CMD Road would also be made motorable to ease movement.
He, however, said it was impossible to create alternative routes on the Lagos-bound side between the Long Bridge and Kara where work was currently ongoing because the portion was a Right of Way for gas pipelines.
“For the remaining permanent jobs, we are already on the drawing table with a traffic management plan, we are also discussing with other stakeholders like the Police, Federal Roads Safety Corps, and the agencies of Ogun and Lagos States in charge of traffic management, that is talking about LASTMA and TRACE.
“We are also discussing with ministries of Transportation, Works and Infrastructure in Lagos State. We are going to be making announcements about our operations on the road from time to time.
“This, we believe, will help to properly sensitise the public on the nature of our work and diversion,” he said.
Speaking about the Lotto interchange bridge under construction, Bakare said the main carriageway would be given priority to ease passage for motorists before the completion of the bridge.
He said the government was passionate about completing both section one, which spans Ojota in Lagos State to Sagamu Interchange, and Section two, which spans Sagamu Interchange to Ojoo in Ibadan, on schedule in the first quarter of 2023. (NAN)