29lucidthoughts
40% of the cars in Nigeria are registered in Lagos, which is one of the most congested cities in the world. Last year, Business Insider referred to the traffic in the city as the worst in the world. Road users spend at least three hours in traffic each day and the streams of traffic congestions lead to many problems for the inhabitants of Lagos.
According to reports, the lethal accident rate in Lagos is 28 per 100,000 people. This is three times greater than in most European cities. Also, air pollution is over 5 times greater than the recommended limit. Some routes also record assault issues in addition (tussles with law enforcement, touts) and isolated robberies along the Lekki – Epe and Ikeja – Ikorodu routes.
Working in Lagos can be frustrating too. You leave home at 4 a.m., enduring hellish traffic and then you have to deal with work stress and the predominant job uncertainty, not to add family headache and relationship commitments. It is no big revelation that many people in the city seem to be suffering from anxiety and depression.
In this article, we are going to look at five of the worst-hit areas in the metropolitan city:
1. Ikorodu Road:
On the lane heading towards the Island, traffic begins as early as 6:30am on weekdays. From 5pm, the other lane experiences its own traffic. In the early hours of the day, the gridlock can stretch to Majidun from Ketu Underbridge as motorists and commuters are trapped in the traffic. The Evening traffic is a monster on its own, and on its worst hit days some commuters who are not able to withstand the situation resort to trekking. There is almost always an old dilapidated truck breaking down on this road. Bruh!
2. Lekki – Epe Road:
Under normal circumstances, transiting between places like Ibeju Lekki and Ajah should be a journey of between 30 to 45 minutes. But due to the gridlock at the road – especially from the rush hour after the close of each workday, you can spend more than four to five hours going back to your house. Going to work is no easy feat either, You could leave your house as early as 5 am daily and get there by 9 am. The presence of a lot of new real estate development in this area without much consideration for the increasing volume of commuters is the main reason for this.
3. Apapa – Mile 2 Road:
If you have not experienced this traffic in your life, then you don’t know what God has done for you. On a regular day, it is hell. On days when it’s bad, oh Lord. The Apapa/Mile2 road is usually blocked by Tankers which in turn causes the gridlock. There is also a high level of extortion going on every day on this road. According to a Vanguard maritime report in November 2019, the traffic is sometimes escalated by proxies of security agents put in place to control traffic extorting road users, in a bid to meet their financial targets. The security agents negotiate and pilot too many trucks across too many checkpoints, resulting in the congestion of the roads.
4. Ikeja – Badagry Traffic:
This area of Lagos has one of the worst and dangerous traffic gridlocks in the state. The Ikeja – Badagry route experienced the most amount of recorded incidents (strictly traffic and vehicle issues), according to a recent survey. The road quality makes matters worse, the potholes act as makeshift speed bumps, only more frequent and more damaging. All this only adds to the hours stuck in traffic. Every day, commuters spend hours on the road before arriving at their destination.
5. Lagos – Ibadan Expressway:
There is traffic and there is Lagos-Ibadan expressway traffic. The gridlock on this road is both unforgiving and deadly on its worst days. This widely used road affects the resumption time of workers in both the public and private sectors, and also those who have early morning air flights to catch from Lagos. Jobs have been lost, flights have been missed and lives lost on this road. The reason for this thriving parasitic relationship is the absence of an alternate route of any sort. Once there is traffic on this road, it will quickly spread to other roads surrounding it i.e. Magodo, Ikeja, and 3MB route to the island. This road is the nightmare of workers living around the Ojodu Berger area who work on the island.
Worthy Mentions
3rd Mainland Bridge (on bad days), Pen Cinema – Iju road, Agidingbi – Ogba.
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