The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has flagged off the construction of Ojota-Opebi Link Bridge and approach roads to ease traffic in Ikeja and Ojota areas of the state.
The Legacy Project, whose construction is taking off 20 years after conception, is expected to link Opebi in Allen Avenue area with Ojota and Maryland through Odo-Iya Alaro underpass.
Sanwo-Olu at the flag-off ceremony said that the project is strategic because of the huge traffic bearing capacity of the area as it will help reduce the perennial gridlock along the Mobolaji Bank-Anthony Road that leads to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport.
What the Lagos State Governor said about the project
Sanwo-Olu pointed out that the link bridge project which was conceived 20 years ago by the government of Senator Bola Tinubu has been awarded to Messrs Julius Berger Nigeria Plc after carrying out extensive studies and engineering investigations along the project alignment, and it is expected to be completed in 20 months.
The Governor said, “We are here this afternoon to witness another milestone in the implementation of the Traffic Management and Transportation Pillar of our administration’s THEMES Agenda and the State Strategic Transport Master Plan (STMP).
“This flag-off ceremony demonstrates the priority that we accord the welfare and well-being of the people. It is also a testament of our commitment to the Greater Lagos Vision.
“We recognize the strategic importance of road infrastructure to sustainable development, which explains our administration’s focus on the provision of road infrastructure to achieve some pre-conceived targets like reduced travel time on our roads- (by saving important man-hours that would have been otherwise lost to traffic); enhanced interconnectivity; provision of better riding surface; and elimination of traffic gridlocks while generally making life more meaningful to commuters in Lagos State.
“In consideration of the exponential growth rate of commercial activities and services within this axis, and to address the challenge of the huge traffic burden occasioned by the growth, we decided to provide carefully designed innovative solutions to ease the daily gridlock experienced by commuters around Opebi / Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way/ Ojota/Mende corridor.
“As you are aware, there is presently no direct link between Opebi, Maryland and Ojota. The available road infrastructure that links the axis is also limited in its connectivity options, thus during peak periods, the high traffic volume within the axis usually congests the Ikeja Traffic Network.
“Consequently, we recognized the need to provide another Legacy Project by constructing the Ojota – Opebi Link Bridge and Approach Roads to connect Opebi Road from its tail end with Lagos- Ikorodu road by Odo Iya -Alaro.
“This will invariably reduce travel time for Lagos and Ikorodu bound traffic from Opebi. It will also ease the traffic situation at Opebi – Sheraton Link Road and Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way.
“This Legacy Project will provide a new link to commute around Ikeja and its environs. It will also act as a relief to the saturated and over-burdened routes within Ikeja. There will also be a cascading effect on passenger transfer time for public transport operators with a significant impact on vehicle operating costs.”
What you should know
- The Ojota-Opebi Link Bridge has a total length of 3.89 kilometres consisting 2829 metre road length with 276-metre Deck-on-Pile Bridge and 474 metre Mechanically Stabilized Earth Wall approach sections.
- Recall during the commissioning of a network of 9 roads and a bridge in Kosofe Local Government Area of Lagos State in December 2021, Sanwo-Olu announced that the construction of the Ojota-Opebi link road and bridge will commence in January 2022.
- He also allayed the fear of the residents of the area, promising that the proposed link road and bridge will not affect their properties as speculated.
