Commuters urge FG to construct foot bridges on Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway

Bad Lagos-Abeokuta expressway

Some commuters plying the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway on Thursday renewed appeals to the Federal Government to construct pedestrian bridges at Iyana Ipaja and Dopemu areas of the highway.

They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos said that the completion of the foot bridges would ease gridlock and reduce hardships.

An educationist, Mrs Oluwasheun Adepoju, said that pedestrians were always afraid of crossing the ever-busy highway because there were no foot bridges in the high density areas of Iyana Ipaja and Dopemu.

“Government should construct the foot bridges and leave the choice of whether we will use them or not to us.

“But as it is, the Federal Government is putting our lives at a risk daily by not constructing the bridges,’’ she said.

Mr Ifeayin Justine, a system analyst, said that having a foot bridge at Iyana Ipaja was long overdue and appealed to government to expedite action to save lives.

“Government has neglected this area for long,’’ he said.

Mrs Cynthia Omebije, said that new settlements had emerged along the axis and appealed to government to accord priority attention to foot bridges on both locations.

“Iyana Ipaja deserves even more than one foot bridge.

“No matter the time of the day, we motorists have to constantly watch out for pedestrians crossing the express road at both Iyana Ipaja and Dopemu areas because of the high human traffic.

“We know that we are in recession but the focus should be about saving lives,’’ she said.

Mr Titi Mosaku appealed to the government to urgently construct the bridges to reduce accidents.

“There is need for those of us living on this axis to declare a state of emergency because of the lack of pedestrian bridges.’’

Mosaku said that the axis was a volatile area where residents could result into jungle justice against any unfortunate motorists that hit any pedestrians in the process of crossing the express way.

“If any vehicle knocks down pedestrian here, what do you think will happen to the driver,’’ he queried.

The Iyana-Ipaja foot bridge project which began in 2014 was initially slowed down by litigation.

The contractors handling the project later abandoned the site over funding issues and their inability to relocate some services on its right of way.

The Dopemu project on the other hand, which began same year, was stopped due to some construction errors.

Investigations revealed that both projects were not captured in the 2016 budget.

Mr Godwin Eke, the Federal Controller of Works, Lagos Office refused to comment on the development when contacted on his cell phone.

Eke said NAN should get a written permission for him from the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola before he could comment.