Lagos- Some road users in Lagos on Thursday called on Lagos State Government to construct link roads to decongest traffic on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.
The road users in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) also urged the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) to construct drains and rehabilitate bad portions of the highway to reduce their hardship.
Mr Ibrahim Olawale, a tipper driver, told NAN that bad portions on the highway, coupled with lack of adequate drainage channels compounded gridlock in the area.
Olawale said that lack of adequate inner roads also led to traffic snarl along Abule Egba, Toll Gate and Cement Bus stop.
“The road is very bad from Ajegunle to Toll Gate and coming to Ilepo also, the road is very bad.
“There is need to expand the drainage channel on the whole of this road because whenever it rains, Ilepo and Caso bus stops are covered with water; even trucks cannot cross.
“Several vehicles break down and we spend hours waiting for flood water to recede.
“The traffic around Ilepo, Abule Egba and Iyana Dopemu is killing and constant because there are no alternative routes,’’ he said.
Olawale explained that passengers going to Egbeda and Ikotun axis, as well as those going to Agege, needed alternative routes to make it easier for those travelling to Sango area.
Another truck driver, Mallam Ibrahim Ado, and a commuter, Mrs Ini Kayode, both said there was need to construct another flyover from Cement Bus stop to Iyana Ipaja to decongest the highway.
They also called for repair of bad portions of the road.
A trader, Mrs Nneka Anosike, said that there was need to construct inner roads to divert those in communities around the Ikotun axis from the highway.
“Everybody faces this road because there are no inner roads and the bad road makes the condition worse; government should repair the bad portion and create more inner roads,’’ she said.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Mr Ganiyu Johnson told NAN in an e-mail that the state government was planning to construct a flyover to tackle the gridlock.
“Currently, the state government is considering proposals for flyover bridge at Abule-Egba/Oke-Odo flyover over Lagos Abeokuta Expressway, to decongest Abule-Egba U-turn and Old Ota Road.
“Infrastructural development is a continuous thing in Lagos especially where the economic growth is high,’’ Johnson said.
He said that the g
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overnment was going to construct new link roads to boost economic activities in the state.
Also, FERMA engineer in charge of the highway, Mr Kehinde Afolabi, told NAN that the agency had started “resurfacing the road.’’
Afolabi said as part of the resurfacing, the agency had poured crushed stones on bad portions between Abule Egba and Toll Gate bus stops.
He said that the contract for the expansion of drains on the highway had been awarded and work had started with the expansion of the drains along Ilepo.
“We are expanding the drainage at Ilepo to take the flood water to the major outfall which is the existing canal.
“We are also upgrading the road,’’ he said. (NAN)