Issuesetal!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Apapa-Oshodi Express Way again!

Hmmmm!

When will the Federal Government do something about the bad roads in Lagos State? This thing is getting very embarrassing! Haba!

I spent four unproductive hours on the Apapa-Oshodi Express Way this morning. The reason? It rained and because of the bad state of the roads, there was so much flood on the road. I once called it river trinity, but I think I should rename it to "Apapa-Oshodi Ocean". The flooded road made it very difficult to drive smoothly.

In the process of driving carefully, the person driving this vehicle, found himself/herself in this condition

Pedestrians had to wade through the flood as well

After ~~driving~~ wading through the first part of the flood, this is what I saw.

The trailer in the above picture rammed into a pedestrian bridge and then a section of the bridge collapsed. As a result, the traffic was terrible.

These are the pictures from the second half.

I am looking forward to the day it will rain and the roads in Lagos will be flood free.

. . . craters on our roads!

There has been a little break from the rains. At least there had been no rain for some days now. I thought with this little dryness, there would be a free flow of vehicular movement on the Apapa/Oshodi Expressway. For the period it rained, I was always resuming late. It is not news that the roads are bad, but whenever there is any little rainfall, there will be traffic jam. The sort of traffic commuters are faced with is really alarming! What is going on?

There are so many pot holes on our roads. These pot holes are better described as craters because they have graduated to another level! Just imagine a hole wide and deep enough to contain three large tyres, like that of a trailer! Yes. That is how wide some of these craters are. The craters along the Apapa/Oshodi express way are awesome! Every day these craters expand and if a driver is not careful, the car could get stuck in one! Especially when covered with rain water.

As if that is not enough, the trailers and other large trucks have taken over the road leaving little or no space for smaller cars to drive through.

The irony of all these is that the Apapa/Oshodi Expressway is a very MAJOR road in Lagos. It is a major road which leads to one of the major ports in the Country - Apapa Harbour. Everyday hundreds of trucks, trailers and containers ply that route in order to get to the Port. The amount of revenue generated from that port can not be over emphasised. The question now is -"WHY IS THAT ROAD NEGLECTED! WHY?!

Sometime last week, the minister of works was in Lagos to examine the deplorable state of the road. News had it that he was trapped for just two hours and his aides and officials "advised" him not to go any further! Why? How then would he know the state of the road? In my opinion, the minister would not appreciate what commuters who ply this route go through. On a typical day, when the traffic jam is at its peak, people remain on a spot for as long as one hour. It does not matter if you leave your house at 5am, once the road has traffic, you cannot escape it! It is that bad. I am speaking from experience.

Apapa/Oshodi Express way in pictures!