Repairs begin on Third Mainland Bridge today

Repair works on the eight expansion joints of the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos, will commence on Saturday (today), the Minister of State for Works, Bashir Yuguda, has said.

Consequently, the bridge will be partially closed from the midnight of the same day.

Yuguda announced this at a stakeholders’ forum that preceded the handing over of the bridge to the contractor in Lagos on Friday.

The repair is expected to last four months and will be completed on Nov. 6.

The first phase of the replacement of the expansion joints, according to Yuguda, would start on the Lagos Island-bound carriageway between the Ebute-Meta interchange and Adeniji Adele end of the bridge. The second phase, he said, would involve the Oworonshoki-bound carriageway between Adeniji Adele and Ebute-Meta interchange.

As a result, movement on the bridge from Oworonshoki to Lagos Island will only be permitted from 11pm to 12pm every day, while movement out of Lagos Island to Oworonshoki and Yaba will be from 12pm to 11pm. Yuguda said security and traffic management issues had been addressed in the series of stakeholder meetings held in anticipation of the maintenance work, just as alternative routes to and from the Island have been identified for use by residents while the repairs last.

The alternative routes for road users are: Ikorodu Road-Yaba-Oyingbo-Iddo-Lagos Island; Ikorodu Road-Western Avenue-Lagos Island; Agege Motor Road-Oshodi-Apapa-Lagos Island-Victoria Island; and Apapa-Oshodi Expressway-Mile 2-Orile-Lagos Island-Victoria Island.

The minister’s views were corroborated by the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, who said the state government would work with the contractor and the Federal Ministry of Works to minimise discomfort to residents on account of the repairs.

Opeifa said the state government would deploy 700 officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority to the bridge and to traffic points on the alternative routes. He added that the state government had fixed bad spots on the alternative roads.

Yuguda had earlier said that the management of traffic during the period of repairs would be jointly handled by the Police, Nigerian Army, Federal Road Safety Corps, LASTMA, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps among others. He thus called for the cooperation of all road users to ensure smooth flow of traffic.

He denied insinuations that the FG had suspended the repair works indefinitely following protests by Lagos, saying that the shift in the July 1 initial date of commencement was as a result of torrential rainfall in Lagos, which paralysed activities.