By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Motorists and residents of Lagos State have been urged to further endure the traffic congestion in some areas across the city as a result of ongoing road rehabilitation and construction works.
Special Adviser to the Governor on Works and Infrastructure, Engineer Aramide Adeyoye, while reviewing some road projects at the weekend, said government feels the pains being experienced by them.
She said very soon, the pains will become gains, appreciating their perseverance so far. The Governor’s aide explained that government took the decision to embark on multiple projects simultaneously to avoid the delay that would result from the commencement of the rainy reason in April.
She maintained that the state of roads at the inception of this administration provided no alternative than adopting a wholesale approach to fixing the critical roads to alleviate the pain and discomfort to road users as well as reducing damage to vehicles.
“The roads where the government has intervened include Lekki-Epe Expressway; Allen Avenue Roundabout; Ojota along Ikorodu Road; Agege Pen Cinema Flyover; Ijegun-Ijagemo Road and Lagos-Badagry Expressway among,” Ms Adeyoye said.
While acknowledging the discomfort being experienced in areas like Ikorodu and Obafemi Awolowo Way in Ikeja, she explained that the government recognised that any delay in completing bad roads would further stretch the period of rehabilitation due to the rainy season which is predicted to be early and intense this year.
Ms Adeyoye disclosed that the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure constantly reviews progress of work across all local governments and has in some instances, been able to reduce the projected timelines for completion of work at some locations.
“We have reviewed the work programme for the rehabilitation works programme for Ojota and we have been able to gain over two months from the earlier scheduled completion date,” she stated.
The Special Adviser further revealed that the Public Works Corporation has been directed to restrict rehabilitation of inner roads across the state to off-peak hours between 10pm and 5am, assuring that palliative work by the agency will also ameliorate the effect of bad roads on commuters.
She emphasised that traffic managers have played a vital road in reducing traffic congestion on Lagos roads saying, “Aside deploying traffic managers to sensitive spots where road rehabilitation or construction is going on, we have also directed that all access roads be opened up to complement efforts of our traffic managers whenever construction work is taking place to ease congestion and gridlock.”
Ms Adeyoye, therefore, appealed for caution and cooperation on the part of road users, assuring of prompt completion of the projects and urging road users to always be patient and obey traffic regulations along road rehabilitation and construction corridors.
