The Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Road Safety Corps, Boboye Oyeyemi, has asked the contractors on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to close the U-turns on the road.
He added that religious organisations along the expressway should submit their programmes till December to enable the contractors to plan ways to ease vehicular movements.
The FRSC boss spoke on Thursday during an assessment tour of the ongoing construction works on the expressway.
Oyeyemi said gridlock on the expressway was due to the impatience of drivers who drive against the traffic.
He asked the construction companies to reduce the U-turns on the expressway to two.
“Drivers need to re-plan their journeys. If you have been spending one hour, you should plan for an extra-hour. That is why we have directed that they should reduce the U-turns to two. From Lagos to Sagamu, the U-turns should not be more than two so that people will not be driving against the traffic. From Sagamu to Ibadan, the construction is going on well, so I don’t think we have any problem with that,” he added.
Oyeyemi, who also visited the Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and Reynold Construction Company Nigeria Limited, decried the poor signage on the expressway, saying it was responsible for the accidents on the road.
While Julius Berger expressed concern for the security of its workers at night, the project manager of RCC, Mr. Feda Natour, said the company would require three years to complete its Sagamu-Ibadan end of the project.
Oyeyemi, while briefing journalists at the end of the meetings, called for compliance with traffic rules and appealed to motorists to always exercise caution at construction sites.
He said, “The Lagos-Ibadan expressway is one of the important roads in the country. From the former toll gate in Lagos to the Ibadan toll gate is about 107 kilometres. It is the gateway that leads to different parts of the country.
“We need to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Works to ensure that the contractors comply with safety standards as regards the highway codes and the road signage. It is important that appropriate signage is used during a construction work of this magnitude and we have directed that the two construction companies display appropriate signage.
“The accidents on the roads usually occur at night due to absence of reflective construction signs. Also, the construction sites must be well illuminated.
“We have already deployed 29 patrol vehicles, six ambulances and heavy duty vehicles. About 225 personnel have been redeployed to this area to ensure that we have zero crash during the constructions.
“I urge the religious organisations on the road to forward their programmes from now to December. We need to put this into the planning so we can hand it over to the construction companies so that the public don’t feel the pains of the constructions going on.”
The representative of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, Kayode Ibrahim, said the government provided for underpasses, overhead bridges and pedestrian bridges in its final design of the road.
He explained that between the Ojodu Berger area and Tenesero, 10 pedestrian bridges would be constructed at the end of the construction works.
The Health, Environment, Safety and Traffic Management Coordinator of Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Solace Orlu, said the company had decided to shift some of the construction works to night, appealing for security support.
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