Bridges are crucial transportation links that carry road and rail traffic across rivers, gorges or other roads. The general physics of bridge building considers factors such as the geology of the surrounding area, the amount of traffic, weather and construction materials towards achieving the desired overall level of safety. A major factor affecting the overall safety of bridge deck is the increased intensity and volume of road traffic. This is particularly so on secondary road systems where many older bridges are located and on primary roads which have attracted a density of commercial vehicles greatly in excess of that envisaged in the original design.
In design, the traffic loads are derived from the consideration of the frequency distribution of vehicle weights and the probability of a mix of those weights under certain loading conditions along and across the bridge deck. Progressive overload induced damage to concrete decks. Deck damage may appear in several forms but the most important damage mechanism is associated with transverse and longitudinal cracking and on expansion joints.
Bridge expansion joints are designed to allow for continuous traffic between structures while accommodating movement, shrinkage and temperature variations on reinforced and pre-stressed concrete, composite and steel structures. They stop the bridge from bending out of place in extreme conditions and also allow enough vertical movement to permit bearing replacement without the need to dismantle the bridge expansion joint. While the lifespan of a bridge could be up to 50 – 100 years, their expansion joints were vital to their survival. But when expansion joints loosened up, they created ditches with negative impact on traffic flow. This is the general scenario on most of Lagos Bridges. Due to heavy traffic, many of these expansion joints on bridges in Lagos have been damaged or heated up, and need to be replaced. There is no particular time frame for how long an expansion joint can be replaced. It should be replaced immediately some major signs of wear and tear are noticed. It depends on how the expansion joint works. However there is danger if they are not replaced, because when cars drive on them, if any metal is exposed, this could cause damage to the tires of the vehicles and thereby lead to accidents. That means these bridges would need urgent inspection and re-evaluation of their strengths. The location and type of the cracks would be ascertained to determine if they are shear cracks or cracks due to bending stress and the whether the bridges are undergoing some drastic reduction in strength.
The Apapa and Tincan Island ports are the gateways for imports and exports for most goods and equipments of various categories and commodities needed by manufacturers, traders and others to keep the country’s economy running. Most Tank Farms are also located on Apapa-Tin can Island-Kirikiri Axis. The bridge linking Apapa with the Costain, Ijora and beyond have been subjected to misuse and neglect since it was constructed over 40 years ago. Concerned citizens – newspaper columnists, engineers, civil engineers in government and private have cried themselves hoarse that calamity is on the doorsteps. The bridge linking Apapa to the rest of the Lagos Mainland has been subjected to so much pressure that it may give way any moment if urgent steps are not taken to rehabilitate the bridge and prevent trucks and fuel tankers from using it as parking lot.
There are two major factors which the federal government did not take into consideration in the past due to lack of foresight. When the ports were to be privatized and controlling authorities was to be conceded to private companies, the trucks owners which had the port as their parking lot were not provided with an alternative. When shut out of the port, the highway leading to the port was the alternative available. The breakdown of refineries gave rise to importation of petroleum products and consequently increases in growth of Tank Farms, without adherence to rules governing their establishment as stipulated by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). They stretch from Apapa to Ibafon, Kirikiri and beyond. The road leading to Apapa also became their parking lot.
Without provision of Parking lot or holding bay, drivers heading for the ports and tank farms park on the bridge, extending to Eko Bridge. There they remain for days stationary. Residents of Apapa are helpless and businesses have been shut down. The visit of former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola had very little or no effect. Once he remarked that it was beyond his powers. Understandably, then he was in opposition as PDP was in power. Now as Minister of Works and Lagos state in the ruling party, nothing has changed. The visit of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode gave some respite for a while. A task force was put in place to checkmate the activities of truck drivers. Barely two months after, members of the task force became part of the problem- as the ‘settlement syndrome’ sets in.
Various stake holders have been calling the attention of the Lagos and federal governments to the state of the bridge and the catastrophe that may ensue. Perhaps, the federal government does not believe that calamity is waiting to happen. ThisDay publication of January 18, carried an article by this writer on the state of the bridge and the dangers looming “Apapa- Sitting on a time bomb”. On 8th March, 2015, in an article, titled “Trucks shutdown Apapa”, published in ThisDay, Bennet Oghifo informed the public of the possibility of the bridge buckling under the dead weight of stationary trucks that are laden with petroleum products or with containers. On 11 October 2014, through the same medium Oghifo informed that the bridge will cause a major national tragedy if the bridge is left unattended to.
In a response to a question, the federal controller of works, Godwin Eke remarked: “Efforts of the federal Ministry of Works and other stakeholders to stop the menace of the trucks parking indiscriminately on the bridge failed to yield results. Those tankers parked on the bridge add pressure which can cause collapse of the bridge.”
The Federal Government’s refusal to heed these warnings may perhaps emanate from the belief that it may not happen. Bridges have collapsed in the past with fatalities in developed and developing countries. It is real. On 15th December1967, Silver bridge in Point Pleasant, West Virginia,United States of America (USA) collapsed due to material fault and corrosion, 46 people were killed and 37 vehicles were destroyed . On 21Oct 1994, in Seoul, South Korea, Seongsu bridge collapsed as a result of structural failure. 32 people were feared dead and 17 injured. In March 2007, in South East Guinea, the bridge collapsed under the weight of trucks parked with passengers and merchandise, 65 lives were lost.
The Lagos and federal governments should imagine the mayhem, destruction and calamity that will befall Lagos if the Apapa bridge buckles under the weight of petroleum laden tankers. On impact, should the tankers explode, the tank farms of Forte Oil and National oil next to the Naval Base, Headquarters Western Naval Command and the tank farms of Mobil and Total on Mobil road side will go up in flames. The series of destructive explosion that will follow is unimaginable. It will engulf the Apapa and environs, from Ijora through Creek road to Tin-can Island, Kirikiri and beyond. Apapa and Ajegunle will be incinerated. Lagos Island, Ikoyi and Banana Island will not be spared as the oil sleek will flow free from the tank farms. If it is during high tide, Oworonsoki, Gbagada and Ikorodu may also be affected. The disaster that will follow will result in immeasurable cataclysm .The catastrophe will be a smaller version of the 1945 Atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I hope that Femi Falana and Festus Keyamo are out of Lagos at the time. Their services will be needed to prosecute the Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi and Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola for the murder of 18 million Lagosians.
The bridge is not the only aspect of infrastructural decay of this commercial hub. The roads leading to the port after the descent from the bridge is full of potholes which constrain vehicular movement, causing containers to fall off their carriers sometimes resulting in fatalities. Street lights are non existent. The regime of Fashola provided street lights from Oshodi through Funsho Williams (former Western) Avenue, through federal road, up to Costain. Same for roads from Lagos Island and Iddo but ended at Ijora. From these points to The Port are perpetually in darkness at night.
The travails of Apapa are not limited to infrastructural neglect alone, law enforcement and discipline is almost non-existent .Ikechukwu Anyaewuchi in his article “Apapa: Tales of lost paradise” published by The Guardian of 20 Oct 2015 captured the situation thus ” While commercial bus drivers reign on the highways, motor cycle operators call the shots on the inner roads where they ferry disgruntled passengers who have abandoned gridlocked buses. These riders lock horns with trucks on Olorogun Michael Ibru way (former Creek Road) and Burma road. They also rule smaller roads in GRA.” Apapa roads are among those on which Lagos state government banned “Okada” from plying. Those empowered to enforce the law are powerless. The commercial motor cyclists are law onto themselves.
Business owners and residents of Apapa have over the years borne the negative effects and fallout of government attitude towards this ‘once paradise’ location. Big manufacturing companies have relocated while the small commercial entities have either closed down or relocated. Most of those remaining and thriving have no choice as their businesses are related to shipping and port activities. The residents of Apapa GRA are at the mercy of commercial and illegal transport operators, street traders and the illegal ferry operators from adjacent Ajeromi/Ifelodun (Ajegunle) local government. They feel it is their right to cross the canal into the GRA. In the past, the residents appealed to the local and state governments to come to their aid to enforce the statutory laws governing the GRA as it obtains in Ikoyi and Ikeja GRAs but to no avail.
In 2013, the Apapa GRA Residents Association (AGRA) went to court to compel Lagos state government to enforce the statutory laws governing the area. Judgment was given in favor of AGRA in April 2014. Till date, despite several appeals, the state government is yet to carry out the court order. On request, residents provided funds for logistic requirements to carry out the order but no action has been taken. Residents pay tenement rate for GRA, to live in a “paradise” to the state but the latter refused to make provision for them to live comfortably.
A little effort expended sooner to fix a small problem prevents it from becoming a larger problem to fix later. A stitch in time saves nine.
Sola Ayo-vaughan
Brigadier-General Sola Ayo-vaughan (rtd) is Chairman, Apapa GRA Residents Association.
