Motorists and sundry commuters on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway heaved a huge sigh of relief on Monday as the federal government opened the closed section of the expressway.
The government’s action, according to the officials of the federal ministry of works and housing and the contractor handling the reconstruction of the expressway, was to allow free flow of traffic ahead of the yuletide season.
Adedamola Kuti, the zonal director, Federal Highways, South West, explained that as part of government’s Ember Months programme, they announced that all barriers at road construction sites would be removed by December 15 to allow for free movement this season.
“So, on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway project, we have already attained a level at which we can allow those barriers to be removed,”, Kuti explained while supervising the re-opening of the expressway at OPIC.
He recalled that government had earlier promised to re-open the highway to traffic on Thursday but brought it forward to ease gridlock ahead of the festive season. To this end, all obstructions on section one which spans Ojota in Lagos to Sagamu Interchange were removed on Monday.
“So rather than waiting till Thursday, December 15, just as we did at the other section, from Old Toll Gate up to Otedola Bridge, which we opened to traffic last week, we have also completed this stretch up to the level where we can allow movement,” the zonal director said.
He disclosed that all construction work would be halted on section two of the project which spans Sagamu Interchange to Ojoo in Ibadan on Thursday, to further boost movement ahead of the Yuletide.
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According to him, the contractors would return to site in January to complete the project, adding that the Federal Ministry of Works is targeting the first quarter of 2023 to deliver the project. He said some unforeseen circumstances, including heavy rainfall, slowed down construction hence the new targeted delivery date in 2023.
He said the Police and traffic regulatory agencies would take over the highway and thanked motorists for their patience during the period of construction.
Narrating his ordeal commuting on the road weekly, Nnamdi Onyeukwu, a Lagos based commuter who works along the Shagamu interchange area, told BusinessDay that he spent hours daily trying to connect the Berger end of Lagos from the long-bridge.
“I have already spent two hours here and I am yet to get to Berger,” he lamented.
Lanre Bankole, Commissioner of Police, Ogun State, assured of adequate security on the highway. According to him, the free flow of traffic would tame crime and criminality on the highway.
Bankole noted that highway trading which compounded gridlock would also end. “The opening of the road would certainly ameliorate the security situation in this area; hawkers will not have any place here any longer,” he said.
