After almost two months of partial closure for repair works, the all important Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos will be fully re-opened to road users from midnight tomorrow.
Confirming the good news expected to gladden the hearts of Lagosians, the Minister of Transportation, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke told THISDAY last night the bridge will be re-opened to vehicular traffic at exactly “12 midnight on Sunday, September 28th as repair works to the bridge had been concluded.”
She said the contractors assigned to carry out repairs to the four major expansion joints had finished their job ahead of schedule and were in the process of removing their equipment from the bridge so that it can be fully opened tomorrow at midnight.
The Minister confirmed that the Inspectorate Department under her ministry had gone to verify the job carried out and had given the bridge a clean bill.
When asked when the resurfacing of the bridge will be carried out, Allison-Madueke stated that this will be started within the year and it could take as long as six months to conclude.
According to her: “we are projecting that we will come back to resurface the bridge, undertake the signage necessary for the bridge and lighting later in the year.
“But this is a process that will take at least six months and will be carried out in conjunction with the Lagos State Government which was instrumental to assisting us with the repairs that have just been concluded to the expansion joints.”
The minister also noted that adverts had been placed to kick start the BOT business models for the construction and rehabilitation of the Lagos-Badagry-Seme Expressway, Benin-Ore-Shagamu Expressway and Kaduna-Kano-Katsina Expressway, leading to concession of the expressways to private sector developers.
Earlier in the day the minister at a press briefing on the opening of the bridge recalled that the “expansion joints have been in need of repairs for quite a while, and the bridge was in danger, in terms of the integrity of its structures.
“We therefore had to aggressively bring in one of the original contractors in the consortium that actually constructed the bridge a number of years ago, Messrs Borini Prono, to handle the reconstruction of the four critical expansion joints.
“To do that, of course, we had to partially close the bridge, and divert traffic over the course of the two months that work was in progress. We are very pleased to announce that the Federal Government is now able to re-open the Third Mainland Bridge slightly ahead of schedule. So, by midnight on Sunday, September 28, the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos will be re-opened to traffic.”
During the repair, the faulty inbound section was permanently closed, while the outbound section served a dual purpose at alternate period.
While the closure lasted, it brought untold hardship on Lagosians, with many spending hours in the traffic, particularly on the alternative routes.
The bridge constructed 18 years ago has never experienced any refurbishment. As a result, it has been in crisis for a long time.
Early in the year, it was rumoured to have collapsed, sending shock waves across the state. This was after several weeks of frightening vibration on it. This turned out to be false. But the unusual vibration continued.
Federal authorities eventually came out to confirm the defects in a section of the bridge.
“The extension joints have deteriorated due to age and lack of maintenance. The rubbers and springs are worn out,” an official of the Federal ministry of Works said last month.
This restoration is coming about four years after the Lagos State branch of the Nigerian Society of Engineers alerted that the bridge was vibrating and this prompted a team of foreign engineers to investigate it for months.
Contract for this first repair was awarded late 2007 at the cost of N745m.
The Third Mainland Bridge is the longest of three bridges connecting Lagos Island to the mainland; the other two being the Eko and Carter bridges. It is the longest bridge in Africa. The bridge starts from Oworonshoki, which is linked to the Apapa-Oshodi express way and Lagos-Ibadan express way, and ends at the Adeniji Adele Interchange on Lagos Island.
There is also a link midway through the bridge that leads to the Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba. The Bridge was built by a consortium of construction firm, including Julius Berger Nigeria and Borini Prono. The bridge was opened by President Ibrahim Babangida in 1990. It measures about 11.8km in length.
Sep272008