Lagos State Ministry of Transportation has introduced laybys on the Third Mainland Bridge to address traffic congestion, especially around the Oworonshoki corridor. Will it work? ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports
For most people plying the Third Mainland Bridge spending valuable man-hour in traffic to and from Lagos Island has been a daily experience. For now, there seem to be no way out of this nightmare. Living on the Mainland and working on the Island is a daily cross they have to bear because of the terrible traffic on the bridge.
What they go through everyday has somewhat made some Lagosians to ‘vow’ not to have anything to do on the Island, especially on week days. Going or coming out of Lagos Island could be hellish.
One of those, who has a phobia for the traffic on the Third Mainland Bridge, is Simon Nwabuike, a business executive, who said nothing could make him go to Lagos Island anytime after 2pm.
“One place I dread to go is Lagos Island. Except when absolutely necessary, I don’t enjoy going to the Island and even now that I run my own firm, I don’t go to the Island once it is 2pm because of the fear of the return trip. If you find yourself stuck on the Island till after 3pm, you are in for a nightmare,” he said.
Nwabuike may have had a choice to stay away from Lagos Island, but others such as Samson Iyere, who lives at Iyana Iyesi, a suburb of Ota, Ogun State, and goes to work in Lekki, has no choice. He leaves home by 4.30am to join the staff bus, which moves by 5am. Most times, he not only takes a nap inside the bus, but ends up eating junk food morning and night. Iyere’s lifestyle typifies how almost everyone that finds him/herself working on the Island lives.
In a news report some six years ago, the Lagos State government said over two billion man-hour were being lost monthly in traffic gridlocks in the megacity.
The Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Dayo Mobereola, who, in 2012 was the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authourity’s (LAMATA) Managing Director, said commuters in Lagos spend an average 40 per cent of their income on transportation.
According to the 2010 news report, Lagos government said much could have been achieved and the economy improved if gridlocks were addressed and travel time on the roads reduced.
Six years after, one can imagine the quantum of man-hour being lost to traffic gridlocks in Lagos.
The Third Mainland Bridge, one of Lagos’ super highways, arguably, has the highest frequency of vehicles in the state, especially during work days. The bumper-to-bonnet experience is a daily occurence that is hellish to the motorists and this seemed to have defied logic and solution until lately.
Congestion cost
Traffic congestion has been identified as a major constraint to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of any economy, as it continues to impact negatively on cities’ economic environment.
In a paper, “Evaluating traffic congestion in developing countries – a case study of Nigeria”, delivered by Dr Kayode Olagunju of the Federal Roads Safety Corps at the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Africa Forum in Tanzania last year said the consequences of traffic congestion included productivity loss, change in accident frequency and characteristics, increase in air pollutants and emissions, increased vehicle operating costs and increased noise nuisance.
The resultant effect could include relocation of businesses and homes from the congested areas to more favourable locations, forcing down the values for land and houses in addition to the degradation of other economic values in such areas.
Olagunju, quoting Kenya’s Urban Decongestion Committee, said traffic jam in Nairobi city costs Kenya 37 billion shillings annually as at 2014. According to him, the same year, going by a report by McGregor and Malingha, a daily traffic cost in Nairobi was $570,000.
A 2030 World Bank’s report had estimated that Cairo’s traffic congestion at US $8 billion, which is up to 4 per cent of Egypt’s Gross Domestic Product. The cost worldwide, especially in the developing countries, is better imagined.
As part of its trouble shooting initiatives, the Lagos State government last Wednesday disclosed the construction of multiple laybys at Iyana-Oworo and along the choke points on the routes, which among others, may permanently address the perennial traffic gridlock on the Third Mainland Bridge at peak hours.
Conducting reporters round the route, it was observed that when the laybys are completed, travel time on the bridge from Island to Mainland would significantly reduce from about four hours to between 16 and 20 minutes during the peak periods.
What’s in a layby
A layby is a place at the side of a road where a vehicle can stop for a short while without interrupting traffic flow.
On the development, Mobereola said the government, over time, had observed that the Iyana Oworo layby has become inadequate and deplorable. The effect of this, according to him, was the negative impact on the traffic, which reverberates the length of the third axial bridge. It always results in high vehicular volume inward Alausa.
Mobereola said the traffic is caused mainly by vehicles, which encroach into the highway when disembarking passengers, causing constriction of the road with traffic gridlock backlash.
This has led to an average of one and half hours or more of travel time from Obalende to Iyana Oworo in the evenings between 4-6pm, which could grow worse as dusk sets in.
“This informed our decision to redesign the Iyana-Oworo layby, which we now improved into multiple laybys (six in number), completed with the introduction of perimeter light and a Teflon shelter for the comfort of commuters,” he said.
He noted that the expansion has taken the choke off the road with average travel time from Obalende to Iyana-Oworo being reduced to 15 minutes during the same period.
“The gridlock was caused by commuters, who drop passengers on the road. We have emergency layby, lay-by for cars, staff bus, LASTMA park as well as emergency park.
“The problem with transportation in Lagos is the traffic at the junctions and we are assessing it in holistic manner. By the time we are done with Oworonshoki, we will move to the other side of Oworonshoki to address the traffic challenges for those moving towards Island,” he said.
Mobereola described the lay-bys as part of the holistic measures Governor Akinwunmi Ambode led-administration has taken to unlock the gridlock on the bridge.
He said the laybys are designed to accommodate a minimum of 36 cars; 18 Coster buses/LAGBUS/BRT and 55 commercial buses.
From the volume study of vehicles entering Oworonsoki layby, he said, motorists would be able to make Oworonsoki from Adeniji Adele on Lagos Island in less than 20 minutes, and from Law School and Milverton Road, in Ikoyi in 45 minutes. Motorists from Kofo Abayomi, Victoria Island can make Oworonsoki in one hour, and from Ajose Adeogun in two hours.
Besides the improvement in travel time, the laybys also offered an improved linkage to the jetty, improving on the environment’s aesthetics.
Motorists, who spoke on their harrowing driving experience on the bridge, commended the government for coming up with a strategy, which according to them, has reduced their travel time on the bridge.
Adelanwa Peter, a commuter, who works in Obalende, said he left Lagos Island about 5:58pm and got to Oworonshoki around 6:20pm.
Isaac Okon, a commercial driver, said the layby has reduced traffic on the road, adding that the average time he spends on the road is between three to four hours from Island to Mainland, using Third Mainland Bridge.
Richard Ayenibiowo, another commuter, urged the government to focus on other gridlock-prone joints and areas as it did at Oworonshoki /Third Mainland Bridge axis, adding that traffic gridlock is a major challenge confronting residents in the state.
“This is because in the morning as early as 5:30am, traffic would have built up on almost every part of the state as a result of the inability of the roads to cope with the current use to which the roads are put,” he said.
Explaining the project, Director, Transportation Engineering, Mr Bolaji Bada, said the Oworonsohoki layby, which is about 60 per cent completed, would come with two parallel roads at Olopomeji, drainage, interlocking/reinforced concrete pavement, kerb/ retaining wall, street light and bus shelter.
Mobereola said other laybys would be constructed at Alapere, Berger, the intersection at Ilubirin and at Gbagada axis, to address the traffic congestion that usually occurs along those routes. All of these, he added, are aimed at tackling traffic congestion in a holistic manner.
“The project content include: Parallel alternative road, Iyana Oworo layby, Berger layby, Lagbus. Layby and panel wall. We are also creating another road at Olopomeji,” he said.
