Thousands of commuters and motorists were on Wednesday stranded when a petrol tanker fell and spilled its contents at Asolo bus stop, about five kilometers to Mile 12 on the Lagos/Ikorodu Road.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered that the incident which occurred in the early hours, obstructed vehicular movements both to and from Ikorodu town.
The situation, which resulted in a gridlock that stretched about seven kilometres, forced many commuters to abandon their buses and taxis to walk, while motorists groaned as they meandered through the gridlock.
In interviews with NAN, they commuters and motorists described the gridlock as one “too frequent, frustrating and unbearable’’.
Mrs Caroline Ifeanyi, an Insurance broker, said: “I left home as early as 5:00 a.m. in order to escape the traffic, only to be stuck in it even before taking off.
“It is really frustrating for me; it is almost like a repeat of what we experienced a few weeks ago when the construction of barricades and divides between Mile 12 and Ketu began.
“During that period, many of us had to jostle to join the BRT queue, but even the dedicated BRT corridor is partly affected by today’s traffic.
“Today, we are back to this traffic issue again.
“We learnt even the BRT buses are also trapped and have difficulty exiting their major terminus, where the buses are parked at night.”
Another passenger and businessman, Mr Mukaila Ajao, who abandoned his vehicle, told NAN that he was prepared to walk for as long as possible, to escape the gridlock.
According to him, “I am to meet a customer this morning at my Owode-Onirin shop; I cannot afford any delay because markets throughout Lagos would open late tomorrow because of the weekly sanitation.
“So, I have no choice than to walk since it is hard to tell how long this traffic would stretch or how long it would take for the obstacles to clear.
“If, however, I reach my limit, I’ll abandon my trip, talk with the customer on phone and just return home.’’
NAN reports that some passengers who could neither walk nor wait for the truck to be removed, but could afford to part with between N500 and N1,000 for a motorcycle ride to Mile 12 resorted to doing so.
A motorist, Mr Ndubuisi Amadi, said, “it took me two hours, in instead of 10 minutes, to travel between Ikorodu garage and Ogolonto bus stop.
“Apart from it draining your fuel, imagine what this could do to a person who drives in Lagos.’’
Amadi further blamed the usual gridlock on the axis on the design of the road.
“I don’t feel the consultant who designed the road had the interest of most road users in mind.
“Otherwise, how does one explain that the restricted corridor where the BRT buses ply is almost double that of lanes meant for both private and other commercial vehicles?
“The size of the major road is too narrow for the volume of cars that ply it daily.
“So, the Lagos State Government should begin to fashion out new ways to address our plight,’’ he said. (NAN)
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