The traffic situation in Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest commercial city, is fast returning to the way it had always been before the COVID-19 pandemic as more businesses gradually return to normal work hours.
From the highly used Third Mainland Bridge linking the city’s Mainland to the Island, where most businesses have their head offices, down to the suburbs of Ikorodu and others, the debilitating traffic which had eased during a five-week long lockdown is returning to normal in some areas, according to a report by JCDecaux Grace Lake in partnership with the Lagos State government.
The traffic situation on Third Mainland Bridge facing the Island as well as the lane facing the Mainland is back to normal and consistent, the report noted.
The traffic increased by 94 percent on Ikorodu Road connecting to Maryland, while the road connecting to Yaba axis also increased by 97 percent, the report showed.
Similarly, there was a 98 percent daily traffic increase on the road linking Falomo to Alfred Rewane in high-brow Ikoyi, while traffic facing Akin Adesola on Victoria Island also increased by 90 percent compared to what was seen during the weeks when the government enacted lockdown measures aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus.
Lagos, which has been the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in the country with over 12,711 confirmed cases as at July 14, is home to an estimated 20 million people who daily are faced with the challenge of commuting through the state’s road infrastructure which is not only dilapidated but has also been largely occupied by huge trucks that have laid siege to virtually all parts of the state.
That has become a thorn in the flesh for commuters and businesses operating in Lagos who are forced to spend an average of 10 hours a day in traffic, almost the same time it would take them if they were travelling to Abuja, the country’s administrative capital.
For businesses operating in the state, the situation means low productivity for their employees as they spend more hours on the road to and fro their places of work, threatening both their physical and mental state.
Being the state with the most disturbing cases of the virus, Lagos was listed by the Federal Government for a total lockdown, alongside Ogun State and Abuja.
That helped in easing the traffic situation in the state since only businesses in the health and pharmaceutical lines, power, security agencies, downstream oil companies and a few others, grouped as ‘essential services’, were exempted from the restriction of movement.
But as lockdown restrictions were eased, with banking operations returning to normal hours and both intra- and inter-state transportation resuming fully, the gridlock in the state has gradually returned to its pre-pandemic situation, worsened by the rainy season which has exposed the dilapidated state of road infrastructure in Nigeria’s commercial capital.
JCDecaux Grace Lake, which said it installed in the city of Lagos the first real-time traffic information system in Africa, the Lagos Traffic Information System (LATIS), to track traffic situation, noted a consistent all-hours traffic trend.
There are fears that commuters might be in for their biggest traffic nightmare as the heavy rains continue and the roads are left unattended to.
To salvage the situation, transportation experts have recommended investing in a three-leg transport system – rail, mass transit buses and ferries.
This will not only improve the traffic situation but also translate into job creation, growth of businesses and fast-track the state’s target to become a mega or smart city as well as a 21st-century economy.
