OSBC Osun State Broadcasting Corporation
Mr. Adedamola Kuti, Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, stated on Sunday that the partial closure will start from August 3.
“What we are doing is to finish the project before Christmas when more people will be traveling. We are not closing the road totally; we are providing routes where people will follow and once everyone is patient, everything will go well,” Kuti said.
Also the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Ogun State Command, last week had announced that there will be a partial closure of a section of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway for rehabilitation.
The FRSC enjoined the general public,
especially motorists to use alternative route like the Epe/Ajah – Ijebu – Ode;
Lagos – Ota – Itori – Abeokuta, and Ikorodu – Sagamu as alternative routes to
access Lagos.
He said the Lagos-inbound traffic will be diverted to the
second lane, as he urged motorists to drive within the speed limit of 50km per
hour. “This is to bring to the attention of the public, that in view of the
ongoing road rehabilitation work on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, the
construction company, Julius Berger Nigeria PLC has notified the Corps of
extension of rehabilitation work on the Expressway from around Berger to KARA
bridge (otherwise known as Ogun river bridge, around the Kara cattle market) on
the Lagos-Ibadan section of the Expressway, covering 1.4 kilometers commencing
from Saturday 03 August 2019.
In a statement, Florence Okpe, the agency’s route commander and public education officer, said the construction firm, Julius Berger Nigeria PLC, will begin the rehabilitation of the lanes inward Lagos from August 3.
“The rehabilitation work which would initially affect 600 meters of the passageway would cause the temporary closure of the inward Lagos traffic, to enable the construction company to effect the rehabilitation of the road and temporary diversion of traffic that would transfer the Lagos inbound traffic to the same carriageway conveying traffic outward Lagos, thereby making both the traffic inward and outward Lagos accommodated on the same section of the Expressway. “The general public, mainly motorists are advised to use alternative corridors like the Epe/Ajah – Ijebu – Ode; Lagos – Ota – Itori – Abeokuta, and Ikorodu – Sagamu as alternative routes to access Lagos,” the statement read.
Friday last week some motorists operating within Sango-Ota area of Ogun State and its environs, urged the Federal Government to urgently repair the Lagos/Abeokuta Expressway, describing it as a nightmare. They articulated their concern in interviews in Ota, Ogun. The motorists alleged that a tanker loaded with petroleum products lost control as a result to brake failure and killed a pedestrian, while another was injured on July 20, at the Joju Area, of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway. They added that another accident that injured four persons also happened on the expressway when a truck overturned due to the bad road on Thursday at the Joju area.
According to them, the terrible state of the road is inflicting serious pains on motorists plying the expressway. Mr. Temidayo Ogunrinde said that the bad portions of the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway had become death traps to users of the road, following the notable presence of potholes. “We have also witnessed accidents that left injured victims and taken the lives of many people. “The potholes make it easy for trucks and tankers to overturn and this often causes gridlocks,’’ he said. Another road user, Mr. Sule Mustapha, who is a commercial driver, stressed the need for the federal government to urgently repair the road, saying that they spend huge funds to repair their vehicles. The terrible state of the road has caused users a lot of uneasiness, apart from reducing the life span of our vehicles,’’ he said. Mustapha also said that their profits have drastically reduced because the bad road had reduced the number of trips they could.
