Adedokun Waliyu 
As rehabilitation and construction work continue, the commuters from Second Rainbow inward section of Cele-Oshodi-Apapa Expressway; Sanya, Ijesha, Agulejike, Cele, Odo-Oluwu, and Iyana Itire Junction spend hours in the traffic and lamented that the service lane meant for the motorists, have abandoned vehicles parked on the section of the road which cause intermittent traffic gridlock and traffic robbery.
A correspondent of Mile2Comnews’ on-the-spot assessment of the situation on Saturday, observed that there is massive construction work outward from Oshodi and inward into the Mile 2, and it causes traffic, especially around Sanya, Second Rainbow section of the road handled by Hi-Tech construction company. Also, the correspondent discovered that indiscriminate parking of ‘Tokunbo cars’ and motorists driving one way on the section of the service lane contribute to the heavy traffic congestion.
The correspondent reported that many commuters do spend hours before navigating through the traffic to continue their journeys.
The Hi-Tech construction company mounted roadblocks to divert the traffic movement while the commuters force their way to drive against the traffic and this cause gridlock.
A commuter who identified himself as Moses Charles said: “I regret taking this route. I’ve spent 2 hours navigating Second Rainbow to Oshodi. This is a journey that should be less than 10 minutes. But I’ve spent 2 hours now.”
Another commuter, Kunle Yusuf who works around the Apapa axis said the area had turned to a hub of traffic robbery. “For the past few weeks, serious traffic robberies have been experienced due to traffic,” he said. He added that unlicensed “‘Tokunbo car mart and abandoned vehicles parked on the service lane inward Cele constitute serious gridlock.
He said : “The causes of the traffic robbery along Ijesha, Odowu, and Agunlejika are those traders who sell by the roadside, Tokunbo car mart and abandoned cars parked on the service lane.”
He called on the Lagos State Environment Taskforce unit to look into removing the abandoned vehicles parked indiscriminately on the roadsides to ease traffic in these areas.
