Relief has finally come to motorists who ply Lagos Third Mainland Bridge. All sections of the bridge will be open to traffic from Tuesday, November 6 this year as scheduled by the contractor, Borini Prono.

The bridge would have been opened for use a week ago because work was ahead of schedule, according to the work plan made available by the contractor, but they had to put it forward to enable them conclude some aspects of the job,  the Federal Ministry of Works said on Thursday.

It was partially closed to motorists since July 1. This has resulted in traffic gridlocks along the bridge and other alternate routes provided by the Lagos State authorities.

The Third Mainland Bridge is the longest of three bridges connecting Lagos Island to the mainland. The other two being the Eko and Carter bridges. It is the longest bridge in Africa. The bridge starts from Oworonshoki, which is linked to the Apapa-Oshodi express way and Lagos-Ibadan express way, and ends at the Adeniji Adele Interchange on Lagos Island.

There is also a link midway through the bridge that leads to the Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba. It was built by Julius Berger Nigeria PLC and opened by former military President Ibrahim Babangida in 1990. It measures about 11.8km in length.

The bridge was also shut  on Sunday, October 16, 2011 when there were reports that it was vibrating, indicating that it needed urgent attention. Remedial work was then carried out on the failed portions of the bridge. Before then there have were rumours of cracks on the bridge. This, however, was vehemently denied by authorities.

– The Citizen