The Minister of Works, Dave Umahi, says the continuous pilling of asphalt on the Third Mainland Bridge could cause vehicles to overturn, describing the practice as dangerous.
The bridge had been slated for emergency repairs due to the bad state of some portions of the bridge with some big bumps.
This was made known on Friday night by Umahi while featuring on a Channels Television programme, Politics Today.
Umahi stated that the 2 inches overlay asphalt which the bridge is meant to carry has increased to a thickness of between 4 and 12 inches in the course of maintaining the bridge.
What the Works Minister us saying
- Umahi said, “You see, each carriageway of the Third Mainland Bridge is 14 metres which means that each carriageway is two standard carriageways. So, we are dealing with 14 carriageways. What has happened is that in engineering design, there is what is called a dead load and the asphalt is a dead load. What that bridge [design] is meant to carry is two inches of overlay asphalt,” he said during the show.
- “But over the years, in the course of maintenance, when a portion of it is scratched, what will happen is that they will come and clean it up and put another asphalt on it. So, we have an asphalt thickness of between four and twelve inches. So, if you are riding on that Third Mainland Bridge, you will see that you are on a superelevation and that is dangerous. It can cause overturning. And again, it [Third Mainland Bridge] is not designed to carry that dead load.”
Meanwhile, the minister had set a new deadline for the completion of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Umahi, who had earlier said the project would be delivered mid-September after multiple deadlines, revealed that November has been set as the new date.
- He said, “Let’s give it November. We may have a little bit of challenges on funding but it is something that I intend to discuss with Mr President.
- “The funding is coming from the PIDF – Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund – programme. Right now, we have a balance of N18 billion on that axis to pay. The stringent condition is that you cannot take funds that are meant for one project to do the other one.”
What you should know
- The Lagos State Government had on September 16, postponed the planned palliative works on the failed sections of the Third Mainland Bridge.
- The repairs was scheduled to go on for 2 consecutive Sundays, September 17 and 24, between 7 am to 7 pm on both days.
- However, the Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Oluwaseun Osiyemi, announced that the postponement was due to the heavy downpour experienced in all parts of the metropolis that day.
- He explained that the rain has affected the preliminaries of the planned palliative works on the asphalt pavement of the bridge by the Lagos State Public Works Corporation.
- He also assured that a later date which will be subject to weather conditions will be duly communicated for the palliative works.
