The Federal Ministry of Works has announced a 72-hour total closure of the Third Mainland Bridge to enable engineers working on the bridge cast concrete on the expansion joints.
The Federal Controller of Works Lagos, Mr Olukayode Popoola disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). He said the shutdown of the bridge will take effect from midnight on December 25 to midnight on Monday, December 28.
The bridge will be reopened for use on Tuesday, December 28.
According to Popoola, the construction works had reached the stage for casting concrete on additional three expansion joints.
“There is going to be a total closure of Third Mainland Bridge in order to allow for the casting of three number expansion joints on the Island Bound lane
The effective date of the closure will be from 12:00 midnight of 25th of December. So people will be allowed to use the Third Mainland Bridge to celebrate Christmas.
By the time the Christmas is winding down which is 12:00 midnight, we are going to close it so that we will be able to cast the concrete on Saturday the 26th and 27th we cast again.
And we need about 72 hours for this concrete to set. Therefore, the opening will be on the 28th December midnight, that is 72-hour closure.
This is to prevent vibration of the bridge. If we allow vehicles to be moving on one lane, there is going to be vibrations and the concrete will not set properly” he said.
The controller said that all the alternative routes were in good condition and traffic regulatory agencies had been deployed to effectively divert and manage traffic to avert gridlock. He appealed to road users to cooperate with traffic regulatory agencies.
He also announced that there will be a 48-hour partial closure of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway from Dec. 28 to Dec. 29 to complete some work on a flyover bridge on the project. According to him, the contractor, Messers Julius Berger, will use the time of the closure to install cross beams at Kilometre 16, that is, around MFM.
“That area will be cordoned off, there will be closure within that section from 12:00 pm on 28th of December and it will be opened to traffic by 5:00 am the following day.
200 meters to get to that particular location we have diversion and another diversion 200 meters away from that place.
One lane will be opened to traffic, it is only one lane we are closing to traffic at a time. The first lane that we are going to close is outward Lagos, that is the Ibadan bound carriageway, we will close it on the 28th.
And then the second day which is 29th, we are moving to the other lane which in inward Lagos. The same 12:00 pm to 5:00 am,” Popoola said.
He appealed for patience and understanding of road users saying that the construction was part of the progress that the Federal Government had achieved on the project.
The Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, which is going through a series of repairs, had to be partially shut on July 24 this year for another round of rehabilitation works. The repair expected to last six months was extended by one month due to the recent #EndSARS protests in Lagos extending the completion date from January 2021 to February 2021.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
