Lagos (Lagos State) – Some users of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway have called on the Federal Government to construct pedestrian bridge at Ojodu Berger to check accidents, gridlocks and robberies.
They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Lagos that such a bridge would reduce risks associated with use of the highway.
A travel agent, Mrs Confident Okonkwo, said she had been robbed three times on the highway in recent times because of the high human traffic.
“The robbers usually pretend to be crossing also and they use different techniques and before you know it, they collect whatever they want from you.
“I have fallen victim three times, we need a pedestrian bridge here’’, she said.
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A transporter, Alhaji Haruna Mohammed, said the large number of pedestrians crossing the highway usually caused heavy gridlock.
“Our government should construct a pedestrian bridge here at Berger and other areas on this highway.
“I have seen several people killed here at Berger over the years and we transporters waste a lot of time on this spot either going out of Lagos or coming in.
“One foot bridge is long overdue here’’, he said.
A civil servant, Mrs Hanatu Dung, said new communities were springing up and increasing the human traffic across the highway.
“There is need for pedestrian bridge because before, all of Agbole, Akute, Lambe, Isheri were thick forests but they have become cities. So, people are many in these areas’’, she said.
However, a traffic expert, Mr Akindele Williams, blamed the gridlock and high human traffic on the transport unions.
“This place is not a designated bus stop. So, why do the transport unions discharge passengers here and make the Berger Bridge a loading point?
“They abandon the motor parks and load passengers going to Ibadan and other routes on this bridge.
“There is need for a foot bridge but government should first dislodge this illegal motor park on the bridge, it would also reduce crime,’’ he said.
Also, a student, Miss Rita Omobude, said a pedestrian bridge would help school children cross the highway with ease. (NAN)
