The partial closure of sections of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has shifted to September 2 by the Federal Government.
The partial closure was originally expected to occur on Saturday (today) to enable the construction company, Julius Berger, to work on a stretch of 1.4km between Berger and Kara Market.
The Federal Controller of Works, Lagos, Mr Adedamola Kuti, said that the decision was to enable an effective traffic management plan and to show sensitivity to Nigerians.
He said, “The government and the contractor have now reviewed the work plan. The reconstruction of this stretch of the road will now begin on September 2.”
Motorists had expressed worry over the partial closure of the road during Sallah and the annual convention of the Redeemed Christian Church of God.
Kuti also said that the mode of operation on that part of the road would be a detour to enable the reconstruction and not total closure.
He said, “The road project is an on-going one and the contractor’s mode of operation is to create a diversion as necessary to enable reconstruction work to be carried out at specific locations. This has been done on several locations along the alignment.
“The intended reconstruction and expansion work of the section between Berger Junction and Kara Bridge is designed to follow the same way. This location has a high volume of traffic and commercial activities, hence an early release of information to the public to intimate them of the planned work.
“The idea is to divert traffic at this location to enable construction work to be carried out. Neither the government nor the contractor had any intention to close any section of the road.”
Kuti had earlier disclosed that work on the 1.4 kilometres portion of the road would include the construction of drainages and expansion from two to three lanes on both sides.
“There will be reconstruction and expansion, which means we will be scraping off the old surface, digging down and expanding the road to three lanes,” he said.
He stated that the reconstruction would however not affect the Kara Market Bridge, adding that there would only be some rehabilitation work on the road underneath to make it passable for motorists.
He said, “A lot of people live around this particular section of the road which is why we gave the notice. Otherwise, it is not different from what we have done on other portions of the road.
“We are starting with inbound Lagos, and all traffic diverted to outbound which will be divided into two for both inbound and outbound traffic.”
