Federal Govt Moves To Tackle Lagos –Ibadan Expressway Traffic Logjam

In apparent response to public outcry over perennial traffic lockjam on the ever busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the Federal Government on Friday said it has taken some steps to tackle the gridlock and other security threats in the highway.

Speaking with journalists after a stakeholders meeting and inspection of the project in Lagos, the Federal Controller of Works, Lagos, Engineer Umar Bakare said the federal government would find a possible solution to end the gridlock.

The engineer representative of the expansion and reconstruction of the Lagos –Ibadan Expressway which runs from 7UP area in Lagos up to Sagamu Interchange in Ogun State said the essence of the stakeholders meeting with the agencies responsible for the control of traffic within this axis was to achieved the desired results within the shortest possible period.

Bakare said, ‘’The stakeholders meeting was to reassess the efforts we have put in place in controlling the serious traffic that we have within this construction corridor, it has been of great concern to us because it is our responsibility to reduce  the discomfort being felt by motorists within this construction axis.

‘’We have reappraised and have made new contributions to all that we have been doing on the project. We are all going home with the issues that we have observed that we need to change. And we are to come back at a later time, not going to be far, anyway for us take final decisions to deal with the issues that are responsible for the traffic logjam , there will always be traffic within a construction corridor , as you can see the traffic is moving , its heavy but it’s moving .

‘’That is what we expect all the time. We have identified all the things that are responsible for this lockjam. What we are going to do is to remove the causes of the lockjam to improve the traffic around here.

‘’Talking about percentage completion we have achieved about 93 per cent completion of the first phase that is the completion of the carriage way starting from Sagamu Interchange going inside Lagos and the beginning of the project, popularly known as 7UP in Lagos.

On the completion, he said they have improved on the operations overtime and increased the pace of work, saying, ’’We are looking at the end of April give and take barring unforeseen circumstances like two heavy rains we still have the rains once in three , four days we shall continue with the work and God willing we will be able to complete the project in good time.