The Federal Government has reduced the completion timeline for the reconstruction of Lagos’ Carter Bridge from 36 months to 24 months.
Minister of Works Dave Umahi announced the new deadline on Monday during an inspection of the ongoing reconstruction of the Carter and Iddo bridges in Lagos.
Umahi was accompanied by the Minister of State for Works, Mohammed Goronyo, and members of the National Assembly, including the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Works, Akin Alabi.
The minister said the decision to accelerate the project was driven by the strategic importance of Carter Bridge to vehicular movement in Lagos.
The 1.58-kilometre bridge has been in use for more than six decades with inadequate maintenance, resulting in significant structural deterioration.
“Carter Bridge has stayed for over 60 to 70 years with no maintenance.
“The lifespan of every bridge is about 50 years, and what we found out from the underwater survey is that a lot of the piles had detached from the pile caps.
“It is like having the leg removed from the hip. There was also a lot of rust within the piles, while scouring and illegal sand mining contributed to the failure of the bridge,” Umahi said.
He said a new design had been completed for the reconstruction, incorporating engineering features intended to improve traffic flow and protect the structure from future deterioration.
According to Umahi, the redesigned bridge will include additional ramps to ease congestion, while one carriageway will be constructed above the other.
A cable-stayed section will also be incorporated to provide adequate clearance for navigation.
“Carter Bridge is 1.58km but you are going to see aesthetics, engineering and innovation.
“We are going to be flying one carriageway over the other, increasing the number of ramps to decongest traffic towards the ramp sections.
“We are also having a cable bridge to contain the 105 spans for navigational activities. It is going to be beautiful,” he said.
The contractor handling the project, China Civil Engineering Construction Company, has completed about 15 per cent of preparatory work, including the acquisition of a project yard and construction of access roads.
Umahi said piling work was expected to begin before the end of the week.
He added that gabions and other protective measures would be installed to protect the bridge foundations from erosion and scouring.
The minister said the existing Carter Bridge could not be completely shut during the reconstruction because of its importance to Lagos’ transport network.
“If we close Carter Bridge, Lagos will go into katakata (chaos). That is why we are maintaining it while the reconstruction is going on,” Umahi said.
He said the Federal Government would continue to monitor and maintain the existing structure until the replacement bridge is completed.
Umahi also disclosed that similar intervention measures were being implemented on the Third Mainland Bridge to extend its service life by another 50 years.
The minister expressed confidence that the reconstructed Carter Bridge could remain functional for more than a century because of the additional engineering features included in the new design.
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