The Federal Ministry of Works and the Lagos State government closed some parts of Eko Bridge for repairs resulting in a serious traffic situation in Lagos on Wednesday.
The bridge, which was closed from the Alaka end of the bridge inwards Island resulted in serious traffic extending up to the Fadeyi bus stop, and affected inward Surulere.
Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the partial closure of Eko Bridge was necessary so as to carry out repairs on defective parts and joints of the bridge which was built in 1976 but has not been maintained since then.
He said: “You can see there are spaces in the expansion joints. These are things we need to see how quickly they can be fixed. Our contractors are the original builder of the bridge so its for us to take full precautionary methods that is why we don’t want to take chances.
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“These are bridges not made to have trucks and containers packed on them. They are not designed for such usage.
” We will go back with Ministry of Transportation and do impact assessment and see where we can advise commuters to move to and provide adequate alternative routes. When we feel it’s safe to open it temporarily or fully, we will communicate,”
He added: “Work is ongoing on Independence bridge, Falomo bridge, and Surulere bridge. There are also plans to work on the third mainland bridge and anywhere in the world where works like this are done, there is always diversion.
“Lagos is a massive city that is why alternative means of transportation are provided. We have traffic enforcement agency and if people can obey traffic officers and be patient, they can plan their journey ahead.
“We will continue to inform people on traffic situation. It will not be solved overnight. So people should obey traffic rules, it will ease movements on the road,”