Commuters seeking to ply the Airport Bridge linking the Airport Road from Oshodi-Apapa Expressway in Lagos are lamenting emerging transit difficulties due to the deplorable state of the alternative roads.
The Lagos State Government had, on Sunday, announced the closure of the bridge at Toyota Bus Stop indefinitely following the inferno that occurred last Thursday on the highway as a result of an explosion from a tanker.
Announcing the closure, the Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, had outlined alternative routes for use by motorists pending the outcome of the tests and reopening of the bridge to traffic.
“Motorists from Mile 2 to Cele on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway approaching Iyana-Isolo through Daleko Bridge will need to make use of Aiye and Osolo Way to Asa Afariogun through 7&8 to access International Airport Road and motorists from Toyota will make use of the service lanes by Armed Forces Resettlement Centre to BOC Gases on old NAFDAC headquarters, through a U-turn at Cappa on Agege Motor Road to Bolade/Oyetayo Street (Oshodi-Isolo Local Govt Secretariat) through Bolade on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway via Charity in order to reach International Airport Road.”
However, the sordid state of the alternative routes, especially Daleko-Aiye-Osolo axis, has left many motorists with no option than to drive against traffic (one-way) from Charity through the bridge to 7&8.
A motorist, Tunde Olawoyin, lamented yesterday that the road linking Daleko and Aiye to Osolo Way was in a state of total disrepair and would get worse with the diversion of traffic to the axis.
“We are caught between taking the risk of plying one-way from Charity or punishing the vehicle to take this route. On a good day, Aiye junction is a bottleneck with traffic at all times of the day. The logjam there has now been compounded with the diversion. While the integrity test being conducted on the bridge lasts, palliative measures should have been carried out on this alternative route to spare the masses untold agony.”
Incidentally, a truck laden with goods yesterday overturned at one of the terrible spots on the service lane leading to Iyana Isolo, causing gridlock in the axis around 3:30p.m.
A tricycle operator, Mr. Henry Chukwueze, said the state of the road makes him visit the mechanic workshop every alternate day, making him to spend heavily on maintenance of the tricycle from the little he makes from fares.
Another road user, Nathaniel Onyeka, said a woman known to her had once had a miscarriage due to the gullies on the road. He pleaded with the government to help fill the potholes with granite to reduce the agony of plying the road, especially now that the Airport Bridge has been closed.
