Motorists and commuters have continued to agonize over the poor shape of various roads in Lagos State, compounded by daily gridlocks on the roads, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
A check on some of the roads shows that it has been tales of woe and sorrow on many of the roads from dust to dawn, prompting save-our-soul calls from residents of the state.
The Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway appears to be one of the worst roads to ply in the state with motorists spending hours on the road daily, due to severe dilapidation of the road.
Users of the road are appealing to the Federal Government to provide urgent repair of some damaged sections of the road for people to commute.
NAN correspondents, who took a trip on the highway on Monday reported that craters had doted various sections of the highway between U-Turn up to Toll Gate Bus Stop on the highway.
The craters are visible on both sides of the dual carriageway between Kola and Toll Gate bus stop, where deep gullies could be seen at Salolo and Obadeyi bus stops.
Civil Servant Mrs Hope Imade, told NAN that commuters and motorists had been spending hours on the road because of gridlock caused on various roads.
“These potholes are getting wider at various bus stops and motorists are not finding it easy contending with the heavy traffic all the time.
“The potholes at Moshalasi, Salolo, Ajala are too deep. Some of them are like wells, that is what is causing the traffic on this road all the way to Sango every time,” she stated.
A commercial motorist, Ayo Kowope, said the bad road had been taking tolls on drivers and their vehicles.
“Our buses keep breaking down on this road because of these big potholes. Trucks and trailers are falling, trying to avoid potholes.
“A lady lost her life on this road because a truck that fell unexpectedly at the middle of the road landed on the woman, whose car was driving beside the trailer.
Kowope called for immediate repair of the road to save lives.
Another motorist, Mr Godffrey Ifeanyi, lamented that the rainy season was making Lagos highways increasingly unbearable, decrying the bitter experience of being in gridlock for hours every day.
According to him, we leave our houses early to beat traffic but end up getting stuck on the roads as a result of gridlock caused by bad roads.
“The rain usually makes the situation worse. The gullies are covered with flood so no one know where the holes are. Many cars keep breaking down on the road,’’ he said.
Reacting to the development, the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos State, Mr Adedamola Kuti, told NAN on telephone that the problem of Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway was discussed extensively at a recent meeting.
Kuti said, however, that the issues, which he declined to disclose would soon be resolved but that the contractor would soon be moved to site to work on the old Lagos-Abeokuta Road.
“The issues we have at hand are really big problems. We are trying to resolve them but for the old Abeokuta road, I will soon move the contractor to site any moment from now.
“The problems are things I cannot discuss, they are too confidential for now,” he said.
