The Federal Government has revealed that the second Niger Bridge will only be open to traffic from December 15, 2022, to January 15, 2023.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), said this is part of measures being taken by the Federal Government to ease the movement of goods and services for the Christmas festivities.
Fashola added that work has not been completed but will be opened for people to use to relive the pressure of traffic during festive season.
He said further that while the construction of the bridge has been completed, work is still ongoing on the road linking the bridge to the major highway.
He 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 the 15th Dec, 2022- 15th January 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, it wouldn’t be available for heavy duty trucks, it would only be small vehicles for now until we finish our work.
“On the 15th January we would 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 i.e. there shouldn’t be any barrier on the roads this season.”