Residents and commuters have continued to groan over recent traffic snarls on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway occasioned by the construction work on the ever busy gateway.
Daily Trust reports that the expressway has been facing persistent lock down in the last two weeks with passengers spending hours on the expressway.
Last week, the expressway was completely locked down following a breakdown of a tanker loaded with fuel which took hours to remove.
Following the resumption of work by Julius Berger which is handling the Section One of the expressway from Lagos to Shagamu interchange, the contractor has narrowed the carriageway.
Our correspondent reports that the road was narrowed from Magboro end of the expressway which has reduced the lanes from both sides of the road.
With increasing vehicular movement on the expressway, users of the road usually experience hour-long congestion especially when there are broken down vehicles.
This was the case last week when a tanker fell across the two lanes thereby shutting down the expressway inward and outward Lagos.
Our correspondent learnt that another container fell down on the road on Sunday causing gridlock for hours before the container was removed.
As at the time of filing this report, the obstruction has been removed to free the expressway.
A resident of Magboro, Mr. Hameed Bamidele said he spent close to eight hours from Berger to Magboro last week. He called for speedy completion of the ongoing work.
Also, another resident who said he spent two hours today from the popular Wawa long bridge on the Expressway to Magboro blamed the gridlock on the broken down container.
Many residents called on the Federal Government to prevail on the contractor to expedite work on the expressway, saying many residents of Arepo, Ibafo, Mowe, Magboro and many communities on the expressway were facing untold hardship on a daily basis.
Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) today issued a traffic advisory after the breakdown, advising motorists to use alternative road.
“Though the accident has been cleared and the road opened, the backlog of vehicles trapped in the process of clearing the accident has stretched to Berger, in Lagos”, Babatunde Akinbiyi spokesman of the agency said.
In this regard, motorists who are in haste moving outbound Lagos are advised to ply the following alternative routes: Iyana-Ipaja, Ota (Construction on-going zone), Ifo, Abeokuta, Sagamu, Benin-Ore Expressway
* V/Island, Lekki, Epe, Ijebu-Ode, Benin-Ore Expressway.
* Ikorodu, Itoikin, Ijebu-Ode, Benin-Ore Expressway.
The Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Hyginus Omeje, told our correspondent that the impediment has been removed and the road cleared for motorists.
