Residents and road users along the Victoria Island-Lekki-Oniru-Ajah axis in Lagos may be in for a new stress-free experience in the next few months as Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has kick-started a process to resolve the terrible traffic gridlock in the area as well as serious flooding in some parts, especially the Abraham Adesanya end of the express road.
On Wednesday, the state government, in collaboration with some stakeholders in the axis such as Access Bank, Fidelity Bank, Oniru Family, Planet Project Limited (PPL) and others commissioned PPL to do a thorough study of the traffic and flooding situations in the areas and come up with technology-based solutions to the problems. Before then, PPL have had a meeting with all the stakeholders.
The state government’s team was led by Governor Sanwo-Olu. Other members of the team included his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Mrs. Folashade Jaji, Head of Service, Mr. Hakeem Muri-Okunola, government engineers and others.
Other stakeholders that were part of the tour were owners of the land, the Oniru Family, represented by Prince Aremu Segun Oniru, Access Bank that facilitated the stakeholders’ meeting which was represented by its Group Managing Director, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Nnamdi Okoko, Managing Director of Planet Project Limited Mr. Biodun Otunola and some other prominent citizens in the axis.
The presentation, which turned out to be a brainstorming session with almost all the stakeholders making useful contributions, took place at the Four Points Sheraton, Victoria Island, Lagos penultimate Wednesday.
Making his presentation, Otunola identified five major locations in the axis where traffic gridlocks are experienced. They are Sandfill Junction (Yesufu, Abiodun, Oniru Junction); Akinbolagbe Street, which is narrow and can’t support traffic volume; Ligali Ayorinde; Akinbolagbe, Ayorinde Junction and Muri-Okunola Street.
He attributed the gridlock to the deplorable state of the roads, pressure at junctions, poor drainage network, insufficient road networks, too many roundabouts and flooding, among others.
Proffering solutions, the PPL MD said some roads such as Akinbolagbe need expansion to four lanes to be able to take the volume of traffic in the area, adding that most of the roads should be reconstructed.
“Ligali-Ayorinde up to Muri-Okunola is a problem. It is the longest road and most congested and condition of the road is horrible. It has failed in most parts; Ligali/Akinbolagbe Junction experiences huge man hour loss because of bad roads; Muri-Okunola Roundabout is responsible for most traffic jams in that axis,” he said.
He noted that most roundabouts within Lagos metropolis contribute to traffic gridlock and should be done away with.
Otunola said the solution to gridlock in the axis are road improvements, as 70 per cent of the traffic is caused by bad roads; junction improvement works; traffic system management (TSM) measures, removing many roundabouts and creating new roads, especially around Maroko Sandfill.
In his remarks at the session, Sanwo-Olu stressed the importance of collaboration on issues such as the one being discussed, adding that the whole idea is to improve on the traffic situation.
“It’s an innovative way of solving our problems”, he said, promising that the government will work with agencies to ensure that road infrastructure are provided, even as he said there would be continuous advocacy and engagements.
“The objective is to improve quality of life, quality of time, to reduce time people spend in traffic; let’s think through and see what can work for us. This is what we promised stakeholders during campaign, that there would be continuous engagements. We want it to be our solution, we see it as a collaborative effort to solve our common problems”, the governor said.
He promised that there would be permanent solution to the gridlock in Oniru, Lekki into Victoria Island.
“We’ll be seeing a lot of improvements on the roads, junctions and roundabouts as well as one or two new roads and it is going to be a PPP model. We have engaged the major stakeholders, it will be a collective buy-in”, Sanwo-Olu said.
From the venue of the deliberations, the governor and his team went on tour of the entire axis for on-the-spot assessment of the situation, making a U-turn at the flood-prone Abraham Adesanya end of Lekki-Epe Expressway which has a major drainage gridlock problem causing flooding whenever it rains.
Sanwo-Olu promised to do a design that will open up the blocked drainage in the area which causes flooding “so that we can have a comprehensive flow of water in the area into the Lagoon which will be a permanent solution.”
He stopped over briefly at the Ajah bus stop where he said there have been complains about the area and how long it takes people to commune from the Mainland and Victoria Island into Ajah and its environs.
To solve the problem of traffic at that point, the governor promised to push, improve and cut off a major layby at the bus stop so that commercial vehicles that are the major cause of the traffic can be taken off the road.
“With that arrangement, commercial vehicles can stay off the road completely for all motorists to have an easy way, so that we can have free journey time and people can have relief on that axis”, he said.
The tour ended at the Lekki end of the Ikoyi-Lekki Link Bridge where he addressed reporters. He promised that the roundabout at that end will either be reduced or removed completely to make way for free flow of traffic
He also declared free toll on the bridge for six hours the following day, Thursday, during the peak period of 6.30 -9.30 a.m. and 4.30-8.00 p.m. to, according to him, enable the government do a traffic situation analysis in the area so as to find solutions to the issue of traffic gridlock and other traffic issues on the Victoria Island-Lekki-Oniru corridor.
“The objective is to do a real simulation of traffic study. When you open the toll plaza where does the traffic get into? Does it disperse completely away or do we transfer it to somewhere else?
“It is only when we do this during the peak hours that we would be able to understand and appreciate what would be the effect of it.
“We just want to do a study and also appreciate Lagosians that we are not unmindful of the challenge we have with the two plazas. But our government wants to bring about a different journey time and the way we want to do it is to have online real time study of what all the issues are,” he said.
He said after the study, the government would be able to “analyse and measure what the next step of solutions we need to bring about are”.
The governor also revealed that from October 1, the entire software of the Ikoyi-Lekki Link Bridge toll plaza would be changed to electronic plaza “meaning that people will not be paying cash again.
“We are trying to reconfigure and come up with a solution which will take us three months, from now to October, that will reduce traffic and journey time to 50 per cent. It will just be touch and go and it will be quicker and faster”, Sanwo-Olu said.
As promised by the governor the bridge was thrown open to road users penultimate Thursday and this was the reactions of some residents and road users.
A resident of the axis, Mrs. Bimbo Fatoki said the development was well-appreciated, saying the free access at the toll plaza hugely reduced travel time.
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