It was a sad day for commuters/motorists who were stuck yesterday for several hours at various bus stops following a container that fell on Otedola Bridge on Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
According to eyewitness, the accident occurred on the popular Otedola Bridge on Monday night. However, the container had not been removed as at Tuesday morning. Workers waited endlessly for vehicles while the few buses that struggled out to the bustops feasted on the situation by charging exorbitant fares.
On a regular traffic-free day, a journey from Berger to Oshodi, in Isolo local government, which used to be N200.00, was increased to N300.00 while N500 was charged for those going to Ilasa. Also Berger to Gbagada was increased to N250 from N200.00. Transport fare for other destinations like Berger to Secretariat, Chinese town, Abiola Garden and others went up by N50.00. Others who couldn’t afford the hike especially Alausa secretariat bound residents were seen trekking in groups.
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Investigations shows that as at 8:05am, one of the two containers that fell right in the middle of the road, causing heavy gridlock for Lagos bound vehicles hasn’t been taken away.
Some motorists who used the Ogunusi road and Mobolaji Johnson way as alternative route to connect secretariat from Berger/Isheri also had a hectic day following traffic build up on the axis.
A motorist simply identified as Mr. Ahmed who spoke to The InfoTrust urged the government to ban vehicles carrying containers from plying the Lagos/Ibadan expressway as they have created so much loss in terms of valuable man-hours and resources for road users.
“We expected that that the container that fell on the road since last night should have been removed this morning unfortunately, nobody removed it from there. That is why people have to face heavy traffic this morning. Everywhere is just blocked for those coming to Lagos”, he said.
Officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, (LASTMA) were seen on the scene making efforts to remove the container while men of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) where also on ground controlling traffic.For sometime, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Otedola Bridge corridor has become notorious for accidents and falling vehicles, which often hold commuters and motorists helpless.
