The Federal Controller of Works Lagos, Mr Olukayode Popoola on Tuesday announced a 72-hour total closure of the Third Mainland Bridge to cast concrete on the expansion joints.
Popoola stated that the shutdown will take effect from midnight on Saturday, 26th December to midnight on Tuesday, 28th December 2020, News Agency of Nigeria reports.
He added that 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 on 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.
” And we need about 72 hours for this concrete to set. Therefore, the opening will be on December 28th 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 are in good condition and traffic regulatory agencies have been deployed to effectively divert and manage traffic to avert gridlock.
He appealed to road users to cooperate with traffic regulatory agencies.
Popoola also announced a 48-hour partial closure of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway from December 28 to December 29 to complete some work on a flyover bridge on the project.
“The contractor, Messers Julius Berger wants 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, which is the Ibadan bound carriageway, we will close it on the 28th.
“Then the second day which is 29th, we are moving to the other lane which in inward Lagos. The same 12:00pm to 5:00am,” 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.
“We regret all the inconvenience and hardship this might have created,” he said.
He said that all the construction zones had been cleared and the highway had been opened to traffic which was responsible to seamless movement on the road.
Recall that the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos, which was going through a series of repairs, had to be partially shut on July 24 for another round of rehabilitation works, which was expected to last for six months but was disrupted due to recent #EndSARS protests in Lagos extending the completion date from January 2021 to February.