The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has appealed to residents to be patient and bear with the discomfort that will be experienced from the six-month partial closure of the Third Mainland Bridge which begins on Friday.
Governor Sanwo-Olu assured Nigerians that the pains will be minimal saying that over 650 officers of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) will be deployed on the road to control traffic during this period.
He stated this while receiving the new Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) in Lagos, Commodore Olusegun Ogungbemide, who paid a courtesy visit at the State House in Marina.
The FRSC boss was accompanied on the visit to the Governor by the Lagos Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Adeyinka Ayinla.
The Governor said the closure of the 11.8km bridge – the busiest in the State – was inevitable, following physical deterioration observed on the structure after an integrity test conducted by the Federal Government.
The closure of the bridge, Sanwo-Olu said, will bring about pain, but the development was necessary to prevent a disaster that may result from the total collapse of the infrastructure.
He promised that men of LASTMA would constantly be on the road with their Federal counterparts to ensure seamless movement of vehicles during the period.
He said: “The partial closure of Third Mainland Bridge is not something that everybody should worry about, because this is an exercise that had been done before.
“For emphasis, the traffic disruption is only about 25 percent of the regular traffic on the bridge. The 75 percent of vehicles that normally ply the route will still have access to move on the bridge during the period of repair.
“We have furnished and improved the design of the alternative routes, and we are still working on other arterial routes so that our people can have seamless journey times to and from their places of work.
“So, there is nothing commuters should worry about in this period. We will ensure the repair work on the Third Mainland Bridge does not overburden them. We will be deploying over 650 LASTMA officers on the road to control the traffic.
“We are also urging the commuters to explore the option of waterways in their journey.
“The jetty built in Ilaje area of Bariga has been activated and we are deploying more speedboats to raise the capacity of our ferry service. This is to ensure that many people are not on the road at the same time.”
