Commuting gets tougher as Lagos undertakes rail, road constructions

Ongoing road constructions across Lagos have made commuting in and around the state extremely difficult for Lagosians and visitors to the state, Daily Trust reports. On a daily basis, many Lagosians have continued to lament the deteriorating traffic situation owing largely to the many road constructions as well as the light rail project. Also, projects […]

Ongoing road constructions across Lagos have made commuting in and around the state extremely difficult for Lagosians and visitors to the state, Daily Trust reports.

On a daily basis, many Lagosians have continued to lament the deteriorating traffic situation owing largely to the many road constructions as well as the light rail project. Also, projects being undertaken by the federal government have also contributed to the terrific gridlock with authorities appealing to the people to bear the temporary inconveniences occasioned by the road construction.

Lagos State, the commercial nerve centre of the country, is the most populated city in Nigeria today with unofficial figures putting the population at over 22 million. More people troop into the state every hour while a great percentage of them don’t plan to return immediately.

The population explosion is said to have put a strain on public infrastructures, especially roads, coupled with the fact that the state has the smallest landmass of 3,345 kilometers in the entire country.

While the roads are said to be inadequate to accommodate the huge vehicular movement, the available ones are presently under one repair or the other, thereby contracting the space for vehicular movement.

 

While narrating her experience, a Lagos resident who works on the Island said she goes through the same stress on a daily basis trying to get to work.

The resident, Stella Adolphus, said, “I left home as early as 7am from Agege heading to Lagos Island, Victoria Island to be precise. Normally, I’ll go to Ojota to board BRT to TBS and proceed to VI from there. Our BRT bus passed through Apongbon towards Idumota market and that was where we were trapped. The vehicular movement was near zero and we couldn’t move an inch. I had to beg the driver to allow me to alight from there so I could use a bike because I didn’t know when I would get to work with the gridlock.

“After paying N300 from Ojota to CMS, we were just less than two kilometres and our bus was at a standstill. I had to take a bike to CMS for N500 and then another N500 bike to Victoria Island precisely Bishop Oluwole, where my office is located.”

While many Lagos residents and frequent visitors to the state have learnt to cope with the terrific gridlock, the situation has become worse in recent times, no thanks to the seemingly countless road diversions due to the ongoing road constructions as well as the light rail projects across the state.

At the moment, there is hardly a day that passes without a road diverted. From the beginning of the year, the state and federal governments have been diverting roads across the state. The Third Mainland Bridge was only reopened early this year after about a year of closure.

It would be recalled that prior to the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge train undertaken by the federal government, several roads were also diverted in the state. But majority of those roads like the Ijora-Brewery Level crossing, Iju, among others have been reopened with the completion of the project.

But some of the recent diversions include the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway for the repair of the burnt Airport Flyover Bridge at Toyota on Oshodi/Isolo Expressway which occurred in January this year.

With the second month of the ember months already here, Lagosians are yet to heave a sigh of relief as more diversions have been carried out for road constructions. Just recently, the federal government also diverted the popular Marine Bridge in Lagos. Since April, the government has diverted traffic on the popular Adegbola Street in Ikeja for the construction of Ikeja overpass for the Red Line Project of the Lagos Rail Mass Transit. The diversion is to last for 15 months, affecting movement in Ikeja and its environs. This was later followed by the temporary closure of the outbound lane of Oba Akran for 48 hours last month.

Another major diversion was the Murtala Muhammed Way in Lagos with traffic diverted to Empire from Jibowu or Yaba Bus-Stop. This is in addition to the diversion of Leventis-CMS road for another road repair. Other areas experiencing one road repair or closure or the other include Ojuelegba, parts of Ikorodu, among others.

Speaking with our correspondent, Commissioner for Transport, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde, urged the people to exercise patience with the government. He said there was no way the government would build such massive infrastructures for mass transit without inconveniences to people.

He said, “Whether we like it or not, Lagos State has to inconvenience and then develop infrastructures such as rail, there is no good time to develop rail, we will always feel inconvenience and so on. It is either we do it or we don’t do it.

“So, if we are saying that we are waiting for the ember months, and the population of Lagos is exploding, then we would continue to suffer.

“The rail infrastructure, you know, will be delivered next year as promised by Mr. Governor. Certain road closures have to happen. The one in Ojuelegba is three months and then we have the one in Ikeja and so on. They are at various stages. We will do the best we can to make sure that we are able to move traffic seamlessly from one point to the other. So, we are doing everything possible to finish the projects as soon as possible.

“If you look at all the releases that we have done, we have put timelines in all of these. And then we are working assiduously with LASTMA, with the various traffic management agencies that we have just to make sure that we are able to move traffic seamlessly. You know the geography of Lagos. It is not easy to carry out the infrastructure that we are doing without inconveniences to the people. Please bear with us, help us educate the people as much as you can and we will get through this together.”