Half of the Iddo Bridge in Lagos State will be demolished next week in preparation for reconstruction.
Julius Berger Nigeria Regional Manager, Thomas Crystal, announced this on Sunday during an inspection tour of the bridge by the Minister of Works, Senator Dave Umahi.
“Three spans of the existing Iddo Bridge are heavily damaged and require replacement.
“What we are doing at the moment is that we are separating two lanes – two directions – and next week, we will move traffic to one direction and half of the bridge will be demolished and rebuilt.
The manager said, “When it is done, most likely by the end of March, we will transfer the traffic to the new side of the bridge and demolish this side of the bridge and rebuild this bridge.”
He said that the company is also building an underpass of the bridge.
“We have already started the drainage work, the drainage work up to the lagoon has already been done.
“After the drainage work, we will remove soil and lower the road level so that we have more clearance for the bridge so that no truck can hit the bridge, which was the main reason for the damage to the existing bridge.”
Responding, Umahi said the Iddo Bridge fire was caused by illegal occupants.
He said three spans on both carriageways were damaged by the fire.
“Six spans have been affected. What we have done is re-asphalt one of the carriageways so we can move that traffic fully there and then remove three spans of one carriageway.
“Then we can divert traffic back and demolish the other carriageway,” he said.
Umahi said the work costing N15 billion is expected to be finished in June.
“Part of the problem is that headroom is about 4.5 meters high but there should be a minimum of 5.6 meters high; so, we are trying to achieve that minimum headroom.”
He said the contractor had created a significant amount of headroom and had previously demolished the first three spans of the carriageway.
“They have also built a bypass route there. Julius Berger is doing well. I hope they will not delay the work.”
“I am directing the engineer to monitor them and report back to ensure that it is completed on schedule in June,” he said.
The Minister assured that, at the end of the repairs, the Federal Government will install a closed circuit television camera to monitor activities under and on top of the bridge, just as the government did on the Third Mainland Bridge.
