By Dada Jackson
The Federal Government has announced the full reopening of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos after an extensive repair work.
Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, confirmed this on Saturday via a tweet.
“Third Mainland Bridge rehab completed. Fully opens to traffic at 12 noon today. Thank you all for your patience. Drive safely,” he tweeted.
This is coming about 12 hours earlier than the scheduled reopening.
The Lagos State Government had said earlier in the week that the bridge fully closed from Friday midnight to Saturday midnight to enable the contactor to remove all the heavy equipment used during the repair including replacement of the expansion joints.
The bridge was partially shut on July 24 for another round of rehabilitation work.
The repair was initially expected to last six months but extended by one month due to the recent #EndSARS protests, extending the completion date from January 2021 to February.
The 11.8km bridge is the longest of the three bridges connecting Lagos Island to the Mainland.
Constructed in 1990, the bridge was adjudged as the longest in Africa until 1996 when the October 6 Bridge in Cairo, Egypt was completed.
The reconstruction/rehabilitation of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on the other hand was flagged off in 2013 by former President Goodluck Jonathan and was awarded to two firms.
Julius Berger is constructing section one which spans from Ojota in Lagos to the Sagamu Interchange while the RCC is working from the Sagamu Interchange to Ibadan.
