Afrigather Commuters transferring from the mainland to the Island are actually spending longer time commuting from their properties to their workplaces and enterprise centres following the closure of the Third Mainland Bridge for complete repairs by the Federal Authorities.
The closure of the favored bridge, which is without doubt one of the main arteries into Lagos Island from the mainland, began on Tuesday, January 9, 2024, and it’s anticipated to final for seven weeks.
The bridge, which is open from 12 am to 12 midday for motorists transferring from the Mainland to the Island, is closed to visitors from midday each day to allow the contractor to renew work.
BusinessDay go to to the bridge on the afternoon of Thursday, January 11, 2024, revealed that the contractor had mobilised to the location as anticipated and males, vans and excavators have been sighted across the Adeniji Adele, Iyana Oworonshoki axis busy with excavation and different ongoing restore works on the bridge.
Additionally, heavy visitors gridlock was seen on Ikorodu Highway as the vast majority of the motorists made their approach to the choice routes that embrace Eko Bridge-Apogbon-CMS and Ikorodu Highway- Jibowu -Yaba- Oyingbo-Iddo- Carter Bridge- CMS.
“I at all times go from Oshodi to Idumota each day and the visitors has been insufferable since final week the Third Mainland Bridge was closed. I used to spend simply 15 to twenty minutes to get to Adeniji Adele however now it takes as a lot as 2 hours to go all the way in which from Ikorodu Highway to attach Eko Bridge,” mentioned Margret Uchechukwu, a Lagos-based businesswoman.
Uchechukwu expressed concern that visitors has resurfaced in Lagos despite the fact that enterprise actions haven’t absolutely returned from the simply concluded Yuletide holidays.
“I used to lap my son within the bus to avoid wasting the price of transportation however after carrying him for near 2 hours on Tuesday, I needed to pay for an additional seat for him on Wednesday. A seat from Oshodi to Obalende or Adeniji Adele is N800 and if I pay that backward and forward for 2 individuals, how a lot is my revenue for the day?” she questioned.
Bayo Adeyemi, an accountant who works with a agency in Victoria Island, mentioned that after resuming late within the workplace on Wednesday final week, as a result of visitors gridlock from the Mainland to the Island, he now leaves house 2 hours sooner than he used to.
“The visitors as of late is now killing and the opposite day we joined the visitors from Gbagada earlier than Anthony Oke all by way of Ikorodu Highway and it was hell that very day,” Adeyemi mentioned.
Idris Saheed, a business bus that operates from Oshodi to Obalende, mentioned that following the lengthy routes to the Island coupled with visitors resulting from excessive vehicular motion is an added value for business bus drivers who spend extra on fueling the bus and in addition lose man-hours resulting from longer journey time.
