New Telegraph

Kara Bridge: Anger, frustration as FG fails to keep repair schedule

 

…Motorists spend hours in gridlock

Muritala Ayinla

Motorists in Lagos groaned in several hours of gridlock on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as the Federal Government commenced repair work on Kara Bridge on Monday against the initial plan of fixing the bridge over the weekend.
For hours motorists were held in gridlock that affected vehicular movement in many parts of the metropolis.
The Federal Government had earlier announced that the bridge would be shut to traffic last Saturday and Sunday to allow integrity tests following multiple tanker accidents on the Kara bridge on the Lagos-Ibadan bound carriageway on June 21.
The Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mr Olukayode Popoola, who made the announcement had said Julius Berger Plc had started putting embarkments on the road on Friday, assuring that the carriageway would be opened to traffic latest in the evening of Sunday 28.
But to the consternation of many motorists who ply the axis, Julius Berger did not shut the bridge as scheduled but only did so on Monday, leaving many vehicles trapped and resulting into a serious traffic gridlock on the ever-busy expressway and other adjoining roads.
Those going outward Lagos were stuck in traffic for hours, others heading to Ikeja, Ojodu Berger were also trapped in the hours of traffic that started around 9am was still on till 9pm on Monday.
Speaking with New Telegraph, some visibly angry motorists lampooned the Federal Government and the contractor handling the repair work for taking citizens for a ride concerning the repair work on the bridge.
According to them, government disappointed them for failing to shut the bridge over the weekend as earlier announced, wondering why they were not informed when the plan changed.
According to a motorist, who simply identified himself as Omooba AbdulFattahi, it was very unfortunate that FG is compounding to the problem people face on the axis regularly. He said the police have been frustrating traveling on the road through road blockade mounted on the expressway, adding that the FG and Julius Berger have also started making life difficult to the people.
He said: “One would have expected the Federal Government to announce the shift in the day of the project. This is becoming the usual practice of government on road repair. I have spent over four hours in the traffic and and I’m not sure when I will get home. Imagine if a pregnant woman is being rushed to the hospital, what will she do?”
Also speaking, another motorist, Aruna Adedokun expressed concerned that he had been in the traffic for over six hours for a journey that should not take over 30 minutes.
Meanwhile as at the time of filing this report, the traffic gridlock was said to have backed up all the way to the Third Mainland Bridge.

Read Previous

How suspected kidnappers killed victims after collecting N7.5m ransom  – Police

Read Next

Court threatens to revoke Shehu Sani’s bail over absence from trial 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *