The Federal Government has announced that the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos will be totally shutdown for two days beginning from midnight on Friday to midnight on Sunday in order to carry out special repair works on the 11.8km platform.
The shutdown of the very busy bridge was made known by the Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr Olukayode Popoola, who in a statement said that the construction had reached a stage where there should not be any form of movement or vibration on the bridge for concrete casting, hence the closure.
“The first total closure of the section of the bridge between Adekunle and Adeniji Adele will be from midnight of Friday, 9th October 2020 to midnight of Sunday, 11th October 2020 to allow the contractor complete the first stage of casting works.
“The contractor, Messrs Borini Prono & Co. (Nig.) Ltd, is nearing completion of works on the closed section of Third Mainland Bridge and requires the total closure of both bounds of the bridge between Adeniji Adele and Adekunle (i.e. in addition to the closed bound of the bridge, the other bound from Adekunle to Adeniji Adele will also be closed) to complete work.
“The total closure of this section of the bridge is to ensure that there is no vibration on the bridge during the casting in-place of the newly installed expansion joints. This is to allow for the setting of the special concrete, which allows the concrete to achieve its required compressive strength.
“Due to the number of expansion joints to be cast on the closed section of the bridge and the traffic situation in Lagos State, especially during the weekdays; the casting of the expansion joints will be in two stages to ensure that the total closure is only at the weekends when there is less traffic plying the route”, Popoola said.
As part of plan to ensure that there is a free flow of traffic on alternative routes, the controller said that adequate traffic management officials would be deployed to man the roads.
Expressing regret at regret at any inconvenience the closure might cause, Popoola added that the second total closure of the section of the bridge between Adekunle and Adeniji Adele would be communicated at a later date.
“The section of the bridge between Adekunle and Iyana – Oworo will still remain open, and traffic can move from Ebute-Metta/ Adekunle to Iyana – Oworo and vice – versa,” he said.
The Federal Ministry of Works had on July 14 effected a partial shutdown of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos for series of repairs. The repair is expected to last for six months with the construction divided into two phases of three months on each carriageway, starting with the Oworonsoki bound carriageway.
The Guardian reported that traffic was partially diverted on a stretch of 3.5km where construction is ongoing between Adeniji Adeniji Ramp and Ebute Meta, while different time belts were allotted for traffic diversions on the bridge.
