For the second day running,the gridlock on Lagos-Ibadan expressway has persisted and has cause until hardship to commuters along the busiest expressway in the country.
Several reactions have trailed the gridlock that affected commuters and road users who were stuck up yesterday on the road.
The gridlock which prevented people,travellers and business owners from getting to point of their destinations left many lamenting over poor road maintenance.
The situation which persisted till Saturday, left many motorists and commuters stranded, as passengers were seen trekking long distances to get to their destinations.
According to a source most motorists slept on the highway as a result of the traffic snarl, while FRSC and other agencies were busy balling with the situation to ease traffic flow.
Our source also confirmed that the gridlock had extended to some parts of Ibadan metropolis, such as Soka, New Garage, Challenge and Ojoo, with motorists and passengers having difficulties getting to their respective destinations.
One of the road users called Mr. Isaac Emmanuel who is a truck driver lamented that he had been on the road since Friday afternoon, coming from the Sagamu axis.
“I left Sagamu yesterday afternoon and I’m just reaching Ibadan now (Saturday morning). I observed that two trucks, including a container, fell around the Guru Maraji area.
“The incident has made vehicular traffic to be on standstill since yesterday,” he said, describing the situation as hellish.
Also, a passenger, Mr. Waliu Olalade, said that he had to trek from the old toll gate on the Ibadan end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway to the Soka area due to the heavy traffic.
“So many people, especially those passing through the expressway are just trekking to their destinations.
“Apart from the trailers that fell on the way, some people have also attributed the traffic situation to impatience on the part of some motorists,” he said.
Another road user, Mrs. Tolani Yusuf said she has lost a business transaction worth of N400,000 as she couldn’t meet up with her customer’s demand yesterday.
“This logjam has caused me a lot. I have lost N400k,” she said.
The FRSC Sector Commander in the state, Mrs. Uche Chukwurah, who spoke on the incident, said there was no accident or broken-down vehicles that could have caused the gridlock on the expressway.
She clarified that the maintenance of the expressway which has been going on for a long time was far from what people thought to have caused the logjam.
Chukwurah identified motorists’ impatience, lane indiscipline and not giving consideration to other road users as major causes of the gridlock.
She noted that the gridlock started around Oriental axis on the expressway, where a construction company had closed a lane and diverted traffic to the other lane.
The sector commander said that motorists only needed to move few kilometres before moving back to the normal two lanes, stressing, however, that they were impatient, hence the traffic snarl.
She called on motorists to always exercise patience and give consideration to other road users while on the road and as well obey traffic rules and regulations to avoid experiencing such situations.
