Transportation in Lagos State 2015 – 2019

This is the fourth part of a series stating what Lagos State residents expect from their next governor. The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, LAMATA, has produced a master plan covering land and water transport for the period up to 2020. We shall first consider projects that are not included in this master plan.
Passengers in a BRT bus
What would be best for movement into and out of Lagos would be for the Lagos to Ibadan expressway to be reconstructed into a 12-lane highway with 6 lanes in either direction between Ojota, Lagos and the Sagamu interchange.
We now know that the current 4-year reconstruction project would not exceed 4 lanes in either direction. This is because a 6-lane carriageway would require additional bridges to be built besides existing bridges to provide the required carriageway width.
If a six-lane carriageway were built, it would ease outbound traffic flow considerably as the three traffic lanes from the Oworonshoki end of the Apapa to Oshodi to Oworonshoki expressway and the Third Mainland Bridge would readily merge with the two lanes from the Ikorodu Road joining the Lagos to Ibadan expressway at Ojota.
Also there would be improved outbound traffic flow at places along the Lagos to Ibadan expressway such as Ojodu-Berger, Redemption Camp, etc where the traffic waiting to exit the expressway reduces road width available to traffic proceeding further.
We must recognize that there are two land masses which would have significant impact on traffic out of the Lagos area and which land masses may not have featured in Lamata’s plans. The first land mass is the 9000 hectares which is being added by sand fill to Victoria Island and otherwise called the Eko Atlantic City.
The second land mass is between the Lagos to Ibadan expressway and the Ikorodu to Sagamu Road and it stretches southwards from the Redemption Camp to the River Ogun at Isheri North, Lagos State.
This second land mass has experienced an upsurge in residential development, especially since the authorities of the Redeemed Christian Church of God built a bridge across the River Owuru at Ebute Bonwu and thereby created a road link between the Lagos to Ibadan Expressway at the Redemption Camp and Simawa on the Ikorodu to Sagamu Road.
The Lagos State Government, LASG, should construct a 4-lane toll bridge across the River Ogun between the bridge at Isheri on the Lagos to Ibadan expressway and the bridge at Ajegunle on the Ikorodu Road. An ideal location for the toll bridge would be approximately at latitude 732,600m North which fits very well with the road layout within the Isheri North Residential Scheme.
The toll bridge would be linked to the Lagos to Ibadan expressway through the Olowoira/Magodo axis. There would be a road eastwards from the toll bridge through the Isheri North Residential Scheme. Beyond the scheme, the road should follow an east to northeast route leading to Isawo west of Ikorodu, and beyond Isawo the road should be taken to the Ikorodu to Sagamu Road. There would also be a bridge across the River Owuru, west of Isawo.
This bridge/road project should be carried out now as there is very limited development in the areas through which the road would pass. The bridge/road project would provide a much-needed alternative access out of the Lagos area. Traffic gridlock on the Lagos to Ibadan expressway usually occurs whenever an articulated vehicle fails, overturns and dumps its load on the expressway. Next week, we shall start with transport operations on Lamata’s projects.