S. OlawaleTHIRD MAINLAND BRIDGE, INTERESTING STUFF ABOUT THE LONGEST BRIDGE IN NIGERIA
Once upon a time in Lagos, There lived two distinct part of Lagos That are separated spatially from each other with Lagos lagoon as the water separating the two areas. No road between them making water transport, a slow medium of transportation the readily available medium of interaction between these two places namely Lagos island and Lagos Mainland. The Government in it effort built three bridges across the water to link these places, these bridges include Eko, Carter and The third Mainland bridge. Of these three bridges, I would pick just one for today’s discussion because of it uniqueness, it is the third mainland bridge, the longest bridge in Nigeria.
The bridge official name of the bridge is Ibrahim Babangida Briage, The bridge as stated earlier is the longest bridge in Nigeria, in fact, it had been the longest bridge before the completion of the 6th October bridge in Cairo, Egypt. As of now, it still retains the title of the longest bridge in West Africa. It was constructed in the 1980’s by the construction giant Julius Berger Nigeria Plc and opened by the then military head of state Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in 1990.
The 11.8km bridge spans from Oworonshoki which is linked to the Apapa-Oshodi express way and Lagos-Ibadan express way and ends at the Adenine Adele Interchange on Lagos Island. Midway through the bridge, there exist a link that links it to the Herbert Macaulay Way at Yaba.
The bridge is an essential transportation link especially in weekdays as many people from the Mainland (Ikeja, Agboyi-Ketu, Ikorodu, Isheri, Oworonshoki, Gbagada, Yaba, Maryland and Oshodi) flood the Island area which is an important commercial centre.
This high rate of movement had made the bridge to experience high traffic rate which makes it important for the Lagos State Government to constantly survey it and carry out maintenance work on it to ensure safety of lives and properties. The Government had not relent in it effort to do that as it had also given it some form of attention or the other from time to time, as at the recent time it was worked on, it was painted with green white green.
The project was a good one and the Government must be commended for it though it still has faults that must be pointed out. First, moving along the road, you would notice a lot of the railing missing, some of the street lights either not functioning, bent or completely damaged.
The road is dotted with numerous potholes posing great dangers to the commuters. A drive would also reveal signs of patches which had been done by the maintenance agency. These problems of streetlights and potholes could ease the work of criminals who may be ready to strike at any chance noticed.
So we call on the Government to consider the lives and properties of it citizens and put this great bridge to order before it degenerate into something else. Indeed, Lagosians would always value the third mainland bridge, the longest bridge in Nigeria.
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