Repair work on the damaged expansion joints of the Kara Bridge caused a significant bottleneck along the busy corridor on Tuesday, leaving drivers on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway stuck for several hours.
The traffic, which started to build up in the afternoon, stretched from the Kara Bridge in Ogun State to the 7Up Junction in Lagos State.
By 3:30 p.m., the traffic jam had spread to Otunba Jobi Fele Way and beyond the Secretariat Bus Stop. Drivers from Ikeja and Agege who were trying to reach the Otedola underpass were also caught in it.
Along with representatives from the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Federal Road Safety Corps, and Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps, our journalists also noticed a significant presence of combined security and traffic management professionals, including police and military officers.
In an effort to avoid a complete lockdown, the officials were observed switching between cars arriving from the freeway and those traveling into Kara from Isheri and Ojodu.
Repairs at the bridge’s inward OPIC entry and exit points added to the traffic, which momentarily made the Kara Bridge congestion worse.
A driver named Tunji Kazeem told our correspondent that the situation was intolerable and that there was no practical way for drivers to avoid Mowe.
“The situation is intolerable, but there’s nothing I can do,” he added. For those of us traveling to Mowe, there is no other option. All we can do is confront it.
The issue is that our administration is unable to organize such repairs in a way that will spare us from having to endure the worst of the jam.
It is now 3 p.m. We have been at a halt since I arrived at 7Up after I left Oshodi at around 1pm.
Another driver, Jelili, bemoaned the ongoing traffic jams on the highway and demanded a long-term fix.
“If road repairs or ram sellers do not cause gridlock, then accidents will be the cause,” he stated. It is exhausting. A long-term solution to the impasse must be found by the government.
Another driver, Kunle Bankole, also urged the authorities to find a long-term solution to the ongoing traffic problem on the road.
“It is because most of our leaders don’t ply this road,” he stated. It’s just the average person. Please assist us in pleading with them to find a long-term solution to this road’s traffic jams.
“If the government really wants to help us, it’s not a hard thing to do; they just prefer to put us through needless hardship.”
However, Babatunde Akinbiyi, the Ogun State Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency spokesperson, advised drivers to be patient and cooperative with traffic authorities while the repairs are being made.
According to Akinbiyi, the agency issued a traffic advice before to the start of the works because they anticipated the potential for gridlock.
“We issued a traffic advisory earlier because we anticipated there would be traffic,” he stated.
“We can only ask drivers to be patient with us while we do the necessary repairs to guaranty good traffic flow and road user safety along the corridor.
“Those who cannot avoid using that route should cooperate with traffic officials, and anyone who does not have an important business along the axis should stay away.”
