The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) says the recent upsurge in traffic around the Lagos/Ibadan Expressway is due to increased economic activities associated with the Yuletide.
The Lagos State Sector Commander of the FRSC, Hyginus Omeje, told The PUNCH on Wednesday that a lot of people had recently been coming into Lagos to trade, leading to increased vehicular movement on the road.
Omeje said, “Christmas is around the corner and people are coming into Lagos to pick up goods to other states. About 70 per cent of cargo freight into Nigeria come in through Lagos ports.
“Apart from the new sections opened around Magboro and PUNCH Place, it is the same activity that commenced in September towards Kara Market that is still ongoing but there has been an upsurge in economic activities. This explains the recent increase in traffic.”
In the last three to four days, commuters moving inwards Lagos have been made to spend more hours on the road, sometimes as much as three to four hours between the Long Bridge and Berger Bus Stop, a journey that should not take more than 10 minutes.
According to Omeje, the increased number of vehicles is not commensurate with the current state of the road, hence the complication.
He however stated that impatient road users were compounding the problem by driving against traffic.
The Director, Federal Highways, South West, Mr Funso Adebiyi, recently stated that the Federal Government planned to open all diversions around construction zones on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway from December 15.
He said the decision was to enable free flow of traffic during the Christmas period, with the expected increase in vehicular movement.
“We are going to open up the entire road by the time Christmas approaches to enhance traffic flow,” he said.
Adebiyi explained that about 65 kilometers of the road had been completed; 20 kilometers on Section 1 from Old Toll Gate to Sagamu Interchange being handled by Julius Berger and 45 kilometers on Section 2, from the interchange to Ibadan being handled by the Reynolds Construction Company Nigeria Limited.
Construction on the Berger/Kara Market part of the road commenced on September 2 with the enforcement of traffic diversions, and according to Julius Berger, the that portion will be completed by December.
