Traffic on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has deteriorated after a container-laden trailer fell on Kara Bridge, forcing the closure of the Lagos-bound section and compounding delays caused by ongoing rehabilitation work.
The accident occurred on Tuesday afternoon. It left motorists stranded along one of Nigeria’s busiest inter-state corridors as traffic backed up beyond the Berger area.
The impact has been particularly severe because the bridge is already operating under restrictions linked to the replacement of damaged expansion joints. With the trailer blocking the outward Lagos section, vehicles heading towards the city have been diverted into the available portion of the carriageway, further constricting movement.
Motorists travelling in the opposite direction have also been caught in the congestion as traffic management measures force vehicles to share the limited space at the Kara axis.
The situation has transformed an existing construction-related slowdown into a major traffic bottleneck; commuters are now facing significantly longer travel times and reduced movement around one of the principal entry points into Lagos.
Traffic officials are already at the scene.
Personnel of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, and their Ogun State counterparts have been deployed to regulate vehicle movement and assist motorists affected by the obstruction.
Authorities are also working to create an alternative route across the bridge. Barriers are being removed from a section previously shut to traffic because of the rehabilitation project.
The section is expected to reopen temporarily to vehicles with a view to providing additional space for traffic and helping to distribute the pressure created by the trailer incident.
The rehabilitation of Kara Bridge began on September 8 following an earlier postponement designed to allow authorities to strengthen their traffic management arrangements.
The two-week project, scheduled to run until September 22, involves the replacement of deteriorating expansion joints on the bridge.
The work was directed by the Minister of Works, David Umahi, as part of efforts to address defects affecting the bridge and improve its structural condition.
Even before Tuesday’s accident, the repair programme had generated substantial delays along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Motorists had reported prolonged journeys around Kara Bridge, while congestion extends towards Berger and adjoins parts of Lagos.
The fallen trailer has therefore added a fresh obstruction to a corridor already operating with reduced capacity.
Kara Bridge is a critical passage for motorists travelling between Lagos and Ogun, as well as commuters using the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway for interstate journeys. Any incident that restricts movement at the bridge can quickly create spillover traffic because there are limited alternative routes capable of absorbing the volume of vehicles using the highway.
The immediate priority is now to clear the fallen trailer, restore the blocked carriageway, and maximise the available lanes while the expansion-joint replacement continues.
Until that happens, motorists using the corridor are likely to encounter severe delays around Kara and Berger.
What began as a routine rehabilitation project has therefore acquired an additional traffic challenge. The fallen container trailer has now turned an already difficult Tuesday commute into a major gridlock on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.
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