Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Saturday appealed to motorists plying the 3rd Mainland bridge to exercise patience with the partial closure of the bridge as work commenced on Saturday.
The governor made the appeal while addressing press men when he stopped over at the Adeniji Adele axis of the bridge while on inspection tour of the on-going work just about 12 hours after closure and other construction sites.
Work has commenced in earnest as contractors have moved to site and signages on traffic diversion made very conspicuous for motorists and pedestrians.
Sanwo-Olu who said he was there to see how traffic was being managed for the partial closure said all hands were on deck.
“As you can see men are on ground, all of the reflectors and equipment are on ground, I am here to supervise myself and you can see that it is not as bad.
“The part that has been shut down is less than six kilometres, so people coming from Oworonsoki can still have access on to Adekunle and they can detour right back in the right hand side like going back to Ikorodu,” Sanwo-Olu said.
He re-emphasaised that men are on ground to help out, “it’s just that 10-20minutes that you need before you can come back to your lane and once this is done in no time all of us will get used to it and it would be seamless.
“What motorists need then is patience and in three months time we will move to the other side, so there is absolutely no need to panic.
He also assured that work was in progress on the alternative routes, adding that the government was fixing so many things at the same time and together.
“We need to fix Costain bridge, Alaka end of Eko bridge, Iganmu bridge and others that are reconstructed and remodelled
The governor also visited and handed over the newly reconstructed Allen Avenue roundabout with all the road infrastructure installed, calling on the residents to take ownership of the infrastructure.
Sanwo-Olu also visited the Agege Pen Cinema flyover that is still under construction saying the contractor has assured that the bridge will be delivered by September or October.
He said the contractor could not meet up with the earlier July date because of the covid-19 pandemic that stalled the work for some months.
Sanwo-Olu also visited construction sites in other parts of the state like Surulere.
He disclosed the government will roll out 600 new set of high and medium capacity buses in August to increase the capacity of buses on Awolowo road, Agege road, Ikorodu road, Abule Egba and other parts of the state.
He was accompanied on the tour by some exco members and the chairman of the Presidential Task Team on Apapa, Kayode Opeifa.