Lagos-Ibadan Expressway: Gridlock on Kara Axis ends today, Ogun government Assures

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, yesterday said he extracted a commitment from the contractors handling the Kara end of the Lagos–Ibadan expressway that the part of the road would be completed and opened to traffic by today.

Abiodun, who has been expressing his worries over the discomfort motorists experience on the portion of the expressway, disclosed that he got the commitment last Friday through the Federal Comptroller of Works when he had an on-the-spot assessment on the cause of the constant gridlock on the road, which has been causing commuters discomfort.

His words: “On Friday, I stopped at Kara and made a piece of my mind known to the contractor handling the Kara end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. My stopping there was in respect to the very poor traffic management and the resulting gridlock subjecting innocent travellers to untold hardship.

“I am glad to note that I was able to extract from the firm handling the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway through the Federal Comptroller of Works a commitment to complete the construction causing the bottleneck on or before Sunday, April 30, and open the road to allow free flow of traffic both outbound and inbound Lagos.”

Abiodun expressed optimism that the commitment he extracted from the contracting firm would go a long way to ensure that the persistent gridlock on the road becomes a thing of the past.He urged road users plying the road to be a little bit patient with the government, saying the road was about to be opened to vehicular traffic.

The road, which was flagged off by former president Goodluck Jonathan in 2013 at a cost of N167 billion and contracted to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and Reynolds Construction Company Limited, respectively, is expected to be commissioned before the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.