Eko Bridge: Hardship worsens as Yuletide seasonal traffic heightens

In the last eight months, starting from March 23, driving experience on Eko Bridge in Lagos has worsened on an incremental basis. It is the Christmas season now and every new day brings a new level of hardship for motorists who ply that bridge also known as the Second Mainland Bridge.

The volume of both human and vehicular traffic in and out of Lagos Island now is incredible, according to Odinaka Omeihe, a Lagos resident who lives in the Ojo area of Lagos but works in Dolfin Estate, Ikoyi.

Omeihe, who goes to the Island every day using the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) which takes off at Ojo Barracks every morning, told BusinessDay that Eko Bridge is simply a nightmare, especially for those who go by private cars. These people, he added, spend the better part of their morning in traffic.

“It is not any better for sundry commuters too who go by commercial buses like Danfo, Korope or LT 300 buses. Most times these people, especially the traders, trek from Stadium or Costain to Lagos Island because there is no movement. Even we that use BRT take one-way (driving against traffic),” he said.

Omeihe lamented that apart from the prolonged travel time which is now about four times more than the time it used to take to go to the island, transport fare has hit the roof-top. “From about N200 –N250 commuters used to pay to get to the Island from Mile 2, they now pay N1000 on Mondays and N700 on other days. You can imagine that,” he quipped.

For Damilola Adefulire, who lives on the Island but works in Apapa which has become a by-word for traffic gridlock, Lagos is just a “flaming crucible” talking in terms of traffic situation. “For me it is a double whammy,” she said.

Read also: Lagos-Ibadan Expressway: Motorists heave sigh of relief as FG opens closed section

She explained that after the ‘wahala’ on Eko Bridge, she still has to face Apapa with all the monsters (trailers and tankers) on its roads and bridges. “It was particularly bad last Friday when I had to abandon my car, removed my wig and trekked until I went beyond Apongbon Bridge,” she recalled with pain.

“Lagos is not what they say it is—a mega city, smart city or centre of excellence; no, it is none of these. It is just a flaming crucible that is baking its citizens on daily basis; this is torture and nobody seems to be minding what residents are going through, especially on this Eko Bridge,” Adefulire fumed.

Recently, the APC government demonstrated its trade mark of failing to keep promises. Rather than delivering Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Second Niger Bridge this December 2022 as it had promised, it has put work on hold on the two projects and opened them for use this Yuletide season.

Motorists on Eko Bridge are, therefore, requesting the federal government to also open even if it is one section of the bridge to bring some level of relief to them in the spirit of the season.

But the government says the bridge will remain closed until the repair work on it, which is ongoing, is completed. “The case of Eko Bridge is different. Recall that there was a fire incident on the bridge recently which is why it was closely totally,” Umar Olaseni Bakare, the federal controller of works in Lagos, told BusinessDay on phone Tuesday afternoon.

Bakare noted that work was still on-going on the bridge and would continue until the repair work was completed as scheduled. “It will remain closed within this repair period for safety reasons,” he said.

Babatunde Fashola, the minister of works and housing, had explained that the repair work on the burnt Apongbon Bridge which was to be completed this December wouldn’t be possible again because of the November 4, 2022 fire incident on Eko Bridge, leading to the closure of another section of the bridge.

Fashola who blame the fire incident on illegal trading activities under the bridge, said the repair work on the Apongbon Bridge would be completed, hopefully, in May 2023 as the section of the Eko Bridge that was burnt needed an emergency attention. He spoke during an inspection tour of the burnt Eko Bridge.