The Lagos State Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) said on Monday no motorist would suffer on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, if they obey lane discipline and diversion signs.
The repairs of the road, which was meant to have started on August 3, had to be postponed till September 2. It is expected to last for 61 days.
The affected road portion to be closed to traffic from Kara Bridge inward Berger and from Berger inward Kara Bridge, amounts to about 1.4 kilometres of the 127.6 kilometres.
Both the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) and its Ogun State counterpart had issued a travel advisory, detailing alternative routes that could be used by motorists.
FRSC’s Acting Sector Public Education Officer, for the Lagos Sector, Ms Bisi Sonusi, said the command, in partnership with the FRSC Ogun Sector and other traffic control agencies, had lined up activities to mitigate motorists’ hardship on the corridor.
Ms Sonusi said traffic inward Lagos was still a moving traffic, though heavy. Outside Lagos, she said, was free.
FRSC’s Acting Sector Public Education Officer added some officers would work also at nights, if traffic extended to a late period.
According to her, the corps has also withdrawn officers from other component commands to join in the work.
Apart from tow trucks, FRSC is also in partnership with local divers to assist in search and rescue in case of any accident and in case anyone drowns.
Also, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos Mr. Adedamola Kuti as assured motorists that with the elaborate traffic management by all agencies of government, motorists should have no trouble on the road.
Kuti, who spoke in Lagos, said the project, which began in 2013 and earlier scheduled to end in 2017, would now be completed by 2021/22, because the Muhammadu Buhari administration expanded its features.
He listed the additional features to include underpasses, footbridges, flyovers, toll plazas and road expansion. These features, he said explained why the project is still 40 per cent completed.
But, Oyo State government has announced that it has deployed 100 traffic managers to the Lagos-Ibadan expressway to direct traffic and make the road less congested for users during its disclosure for reconstruction.
Executive Chairman, Oyo State Road Traffic Management Authority (OYRTMA) Dr. Akin Fagbemi stated this yesterday in Ibadan while briefing reporters on the efforts of the state administration to ease the burden of travellers using the major highway.
The Lagos-Ibadan road has been described as the only connecting road from the seaport and the international airport in Lagos to the rest of the country and had suffered neglect in the last 10 years.
Fagbemi said his officers would be on ground along the expressway, especially at the points where construction works would be taking place to avoid congestion and traffic snares.
He said commuters could get in touch with the men of the agency on +2348114390097 to report any complaint or seek help on the highway within the period.
He added that alternative routes announced for road users include Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway from Abeokuta connecting Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Sagamu-Ikorodu Road from Sagamu Interchange to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
Others include Ijebu-Ode-Itoikin Road from Ijebu-Ode to Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
There was heavy security presence at the Berger to Ogun River section of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway yesterday as operatives of Julius Berger blocked the outward Lagos stretch of the road for rehabilitation works while making a diversion on the inward Lagos stretch, thereby causing heavy traffic build-up along the single lane.
Area Commander Ogudu Police Command of Lagos State, ACP Miller Dantawaye, said the police have mobilised en-mass to ensure the maintenance of law and order during the rehabilitation works.
Also on Monday, motorists plying the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway pleaded with the Lagos and Ogun state governments and others in charge of the road construction to put adequate measures in place to ensure that any broken down vehicle along the axis are towed off the roads immediately.
This, they said, would ensure free flow of vehicular movement along the axis as broken down vehicle would make traffic worsened.
The plea was made when The Nation visited the area. It was observed that the construction work had begun, the partitioning of the express road outward Lagos had been done to accommodate both those going out of Lagos and those coming into Lagos. When our reporter visited the area, vehicular movement in the area was thick.
About four trucks used for the construction could be sighted and about 10 officials were seen constructing the road.
