LAGOS-BADAGRY ROAD: Long And Tedious

TO connect Mile 2 from Okokomaiko through the Lagos-Badagry Road, naturally, should not take more than 20 minutes, but many who live on that route or needed to connect a section of it, now spend hours.

Ironically, the ongoing road project along that route, which started in 2009, and meant to alleviate the plight of people using that road, has compounded their case, especially, at sections where construction work is going on.

However, besides the construction works and potholes, indiscipline is another major reason commuters spend hours on the road.

On that route, the major flash points usually responsible for the traffic are Okokomaiko, Alaba-rago, Iyana, Volkswagen, Barracks, Trade Fair, Abule-Ado, Alakija and Mile 2 Bus stops. In each of these points, principally, it is the indiscipline of the commercial drivers that is responsible for the slow movement and hectic traffic that motorists and commuters experience. Though, sometimes, the activities of petty traders, who are also competing with pedestrian and commercial drivers for space to display their wares, further aggravate the crisis.

Okokomaiko and Iyana Iba bus stops are major motor parks to connect different parts of Lagos; because of this; there is a high volume of not just human traffic, but commercial buses competing for passengers. And because the space available for the park is not big enough or the drivers are not making good use of it, on many occasions, they now move into the road, a two-lane, one of which has now been ‘completely colonised’, aside from that, many of them even stop on the second lane to pick passengers.

There are potholes dotting the road before and around the bus stop, which naturally, slow down traffic. Then, there are two U-turns, and an intersection linking vehicles coming from Ojo to the expressway. All these contribute to slowing down traffic on that route. And because the traffic officers and the policemen mounting the spot are usually overwhelmed, the whole place is rowdy, with many, commercial drivers, at peak periods, driving against traffic, further compounding the problem.

At Trade fair and Abule-Ado bus stops, commercial bus drivers picking passengers in a section of the two-lane road or on both lanes are often responsible for the gridlock usually experienced in that area. In Alakija, the hectic traffic encountered at that point is caused by the intersection, with motorists wanting to enter or come out of Festac town. And this is made worse, because the Festac town gate is small and obstructs the linking point. This is why it is usually not easy for vehicles to navigate into and out of Festac. It is also why there is usually rowdiness around the gate.

“If the Alakija Festac gate is expanded and there is space to accommodate that, the hectic traffic commuters and motorists usually experiences in that place will be greatly positively affected,” said a commuter to The Guardian. “Also contributing to the slow traffic at that spot is, the commercial drivers picking passengers on the road.”

The slow traffic in Mile 2 is also caused by the unruly behaviour of commercial bus drivers and potholes on the two-lane service road of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway. Ironically, the potholes are on a new road that has not been commissioned by the state government. Two points are usually worse off, the durbar junction when heading to Mazamaza and Mile 2 Oke when heading to Orile.