The Goodluck Ebele Jonathan ‘Expressend’

Among the essential structural elements of Abuja city is the network of expressways. Some were implemented at the early stage of the city development while others were delayed, mostly due to paucity of funds. Some of these roads include the Outer Northern Expressway (ONEX), Outer Southern Expressway (OSEX), Inner Northern Expressway (INEX) and Inner Southern […]

Among the essential structural elements of Abuja city is the network of expressways. Some were implemented at the early stage of the city development while others were delayed, mostly due to paucity of funds. Some of these roads include the Outer Northern Expressway (ONEX), Outer Southern Expressway (OSEX), Inner Northern Expressway (INEX) and Inner Southern Expressway (ISEX).
The road that is named after Former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is part of the ISEX that is now constructed. The ISEX, a major expressway with the whole of its lanes is truncated at the Arterial S7 known as Tafawa Balewa Way. It doesn’t make sense. Why the hurry in naming the road, while the road is halfway completed? Understanding the functions of the basic structural elements in the city building block is necessary for this discourse.
The Abuja master planning process defined a basic organizational structure for the city. Ten components were summarized in the opening chapter of the plan. The first three highpoints for the infrastructure components were: Dual transit spines forming the core of each development corridor permitting the majority of residents to be within working distance of public transportation; A peripheral highway system flanking each development corridor and defining their outer limits, coupled with a parkway in the central park connected by transverse parkways; and A sector road system designed to provide easy access to centers from the periphery but designed to discourage traffic through residential areas.
Some of the aforementioned components were implemented according to the priorities accorded by the various FCT Administrations over the years. This depends on the available resources and the needs. For the highway system flanking each development corridor and defining their outer limits only two are now in place. These are the ring road one, known as the Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway, separating phases I and II, and the yet to be named Ring Road 2, separating phases II and III. Ring Road 3 should now be the next in order to support the proper takeoff of developments in phase IV.
According to the Abuja development program there is to be a staged development in phases for one phase to be completed before the commencement of the next, hence, the sequential commencement of the ring roads construction. This incremental staged development makes sense in the aspect of accommodating challenges based on observation in a preceding phase, such that it could be addressed in the subsequent phase of the city development.
The city structural plan was made such that the Transit ways as railway corridor are parallel to the major Arterial roads, Expressways and Parkways. They all run parallel to each other from the first to the subsequent phases of the city development. They are connected and serviced at regular intervals by other arterial roads running at a transverse direction.
The Ahmadu Bello Way is not only a major Arterial road, but it is the longest street in the city today. Technically, north of the Central Area District it is N11 and south of the Central Area it is S11. Its alignment runs parallel and separated by a walking distance to the N12 Transit way at the North, and S12 Transit way at the South, as they cut through the Ministries Zone. They are only separated by a block of the Federal Ministries Complex in the Central Area District and an employment area at the Garki II district. The essence was for the road and rail transport services to be complementary.
The ONEX and OSEX commence in between the foot of the Aso Rock. They are the two expressways that bound the entire development corridors of the city and define their outer limits; they link to the trunk routes of the capital territory for access to other parts of the country. The ONEX terminates at the Trunk A-2 route at Zuba. The OSEX, which construction is truncated is also expected to terminate farther down at the A-2 after Gwagwalada. They have a design speed of 100kph. They allow unobstructed traffic at the city outskirts for those who come to Abuja from any part of the country to freely carry out their transactions and to possibly return to their destinations within the same day.
Whatever function performed by ONEX and OSEX in linking motorists to the city via the outskirts is also to be performed by INEX and ISEX in linking motorists directly through the heart of the city on a nonstop traffic. The implementation of the ISEX, technically known as S15, now named Goodluck Ebele Jonathan Expressway, shall assist in the reduction of burden on the existing Arterial roads. However, the INEX, or N15, which is north of the Central Area District is also required to complement the S15 which is at the south.
N15 is not in place. S15 with all its lanes is implemented but truncated halfway. How is it going to be utilized? Yet, at this stage the S15 has already been named, hence, our reference to it as Expressend, instead of Expressway. Does the specification in the contract terminate the road at this stage? Has the contract and expenditure match the work on the ground? This requires the searchlight of the current administration.