By Damola Emmanuel
Lagosians, especially those who work on the island, would wake to a new reality on Saturday as the Federal Government made good its promise to close the Third Mainland bridge at midnight Friday.
At exactly 12 midnight, engineers and workmen moved in to barricade the 11.8 kilometer bridge, the second longest in Africa, from Adeniji Adele inbound Lagos Island.
The bridge would be partially closed for six months to allow for the much needed maintenance work after the facility failed the integrity test.
The maintenance effort was triggered by public outcry about the health of the facility with evidently worn-out joints and gaping gaps that scared daylight out of motorists and commuters.
Although experts deem the exercise absolutely necessary to save lives, many Lagosians are apprehensive of the possible pains it would cause them.
Granting the slipshod management of traffic in Lagos, and lawlessness of motorists, most people who work or do business in Lagos Island see the coming six months as hell.
However, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has assured that a lot has been done to ease the pains of Lagosians during the six months the exercise would last.
He gave the assurance at the Lagos House, Marina, Thursday, when the new Lagos State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Corps, FRSC, Mr. Olusegun Ogungbemide, paid him a courtesy visit. The FRSC chief was accompanied by the Lagos Commandant of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, Mr. Adeyinka Ayinla.
Although Sanwo-Olu acknowledged that the exercise would bring pains to Lagosians, his administration had mapped out alternative routes and enhanced traffic management strategies that would give the people a seamless motoring experience.
The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, Sanwo-Olu added, would constantly be on the road, alongside their Federal counterparts, to ensure sanity and order on the road during the period.
”The partial closure of Third Mainland Bridge is not something that everybody should worry about, because this is an exercise that had been done before,” the governor said.
”For emphasis, the traffic disruption is only about 25 per cent of the regular traffic on the bridge.
”The 75 per cent of vehicles that normally ply the route will still have access to move on the bridge during the period of repair.
”We have furnished and improved the design of the alternative routes, and we are still working on other arterial routes so that our people can have seamless journey times to and from their places of work.
”So, there is nothing commuters should worry about in this period. We will ensure the repair work on Third Mainland Bridge does not overburden them. We will be deploying over 650 LASTMA officers on the road to control the traffic.”