The Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) said on Monday it was speeding up alternative routes repairs to ensure smooth rides and avert gridlock during the closure of the Lagos Third Mainland Bridge for repairs.

The FERMA South West II Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Rufus Onimisi, stated this during site inspection of the ongoing rehabilitation of roads in the Ijora 7Up area of Lagos.

The Third Mainland Bridge will be closed for six months for another phase of repair works from Friday.

Onimisi said FERMA had been busy fixing bad roads and fast-tracking rehabilitation of major alternative routes to avert traffic congestions during the period.

According to him, the agency had completed repairs of the Oyingbo/Iddo section and immediately moved its equipment to continue work on the Ijora 7Up area.

The FERMA official said: “Our agency carries out maintenance all year round and these roads are in our programme. But we are expediting action because of the Third Mainland Bridge that will be closed on Friday.

“Here the graders are scarifying the bad materials, it is damaged ashpalt so we are removing them.

“We will now introduce stone base, and then we have two layers of asphalt, we have the binder course which we are going to lay on the stone base after which we will now lay the wearing course.

“We just finished the work at Iddo. We started since Saturday and moved our equipment here, and we have a load of ashpalt to lay on the already prepared portion over there.”

He said that the agency was stabilising the road on Agege Motor Road with bounders while it tackles a major drainage problem causing flooding before embarking on permanent repairs.

“As I am talking, we are working between Moshalashi to Mushin on the road,” Onimisi added.

He listed roads that had been repaired and still receiving attention to include Herbert Macaulay Way, Oyingbo, Bode Thomas, Eric Moore, Ijora Course Way, Ijora Olopa and Iddo roads.