Second Niger Bridge to be opened between Dec 15 and Jan 15 to ease seasonal travel rush woes

WORKS and housing minister Babatunde Fashola has revealed that the federal government will open the still-under-construction new Second Niger Bridge  between December 15 and January 15 next year to ease the movement of goods and people during the festive season.

Since Nigeria's return to democracy in 1999, successive governments have been working on building a second Niger Bridge as it is a vital link between the east and west of the country. Way back in 1965, the first bridge was built but it is currently overwhelmed as the volume of cars crossing it have made the construction of a second one vital.

Last month, Mr Fashola announced that the federal government has completed the construction of the bridge linking Asaba in Delta State with Onitsha in Anambra State. This second bridge built by Julius Berger, includes a 1,590-metre reinforced crossing with maximum spans of 150 meters, a motorway interchange and a toll station.

However, the project is not yet completed as the government is still grappling with competing all the feeder roads that lead up to the bridge. According to Mr Fashola, work is still ongoing to connect these roads to the bridge but despite this, the facility will open next week as the perennial Christmas travel rush begins.

Mr Fashola said: “We have completed work on the bridge, so if you go there now you can walk from one end of the bridge to the other or drive from one end of the bridge to the other but the connecting road that links that bridge to the main highway  is what we want to finish. What delayed us is the stop work orders on Mondays, the flood also delayed us but it was a blessing in disguise because the original level of the flood resistance was based on the 2012 flood report.

“So, we have to raise the height of that road, happily and thankfully it didn’t affect the bridge. The president approved that since the bridge is finished that we should create a access road so that during Christmas you can begin to experience what it would feel like plying the bridge.

“It would be open for traffic going from the west to the east from December 15 2022 to January 15 2023. Let me be clear again we haven’t finished construction work but we would open it for people to use to relive the pressure from the one bridge but it wouldn’t be available for heavy duty trucks, it would only be small vehicles for now until we finish our work.

“On January 15, we will reverse that movement for those coming from the east to the west. We have told all the contractors that they shouldn’t open anymore sections for construction and there shouldn’t be any barrier on the roads this season.”

In addition, he also gave assurances that the filing of potholes along some road corridors will continue as has been done over the years. Me Fashola appealed to Nigerian road users to appreciate the fact that roads are a depreciating asset as such even as some parts are being rehabilitated, other parts could be failing.