Lagos commuters groan over Third Mainland Bridge closure

Following the 3-day closure of the Third Mainland Bridge to carry out what the Lagos State government referred to as ‘’investigative maintenance test” along the 11.5-kilometre corridor the midnight of Thursday, August 23, traffic in and around the metropolis has been chaotic as commuters face difficulties connecting to their various destinations.
This is worsened by intense vehicular gridlock along the designated alternative routes. The ugly experiences is coming at a time when the both the Lagos State and Federal Government are confronted with the menace of trailers and tanker drivers that have converted every available space on the road into a parking lot.
BusinessDay transport editor, who drove last Friday from Iyana-Ipaja through the Agege Motor Road through Mushin and connecting Ikorodu Road and Eko Bridge on his way to Victoria Island, spent about three hours getting to his destination.
This is the same number of hours it takes driving through the bad portions of the road on a journey from Lagos to Benin on an average of 100 kilometres per hour.
For many hours, some of the stranded commuters who experienced difficulties getting vehicles trekked long distances to get to their various destinations.
Ebuka Iheme who lives at Ijanikin area of the city and trade on the Lagos Island told our reporter that he spent over N2000 commuting on okada getting to his destination on a journey that would have cost him N200 on a commercial vehicle.
The situation became worst at the close of work during the day as many commuters could not find vehicles back home while the available commercial vehicles raised their transport fares.
The Third Mainland Bridge, which was opened about 30 years ago by the then military government has had haphazard maintenance and repairs in the past which the present Federal Government is committed to correcting by carrying out proper and continuous maintenance and repairs on it.

MIKE OCHONMA