I have been reading this thread but no one is suggesting how to verify if the bridge is safe. Those that are comparing US bridges need to understand the maintenance culture of US. It is very windy in some states, thus, it is not unusual for a bridge to be closed to traffic. If the vibration you guys are describing is that life threatening, then the authority in charge of the bridge should be notified. Questions to consider:
a) Is this vibration occurring every day?
b) Is it noticeable to drivers while driving?
c) Is it pronounced at certain times of the day?
d) How windy is Lagos?, etc,

It is not unusual to see cracks or rust. I am confident that any reliable government or authority would have schedule maintenance for her bridges.

I commend your concern, however, the auhority should be alerted; and the authority should clear the air regarding this?
Just for a minute Imagine an unusual earth movement , Then you guys have a problem, if the bridge has not been properly maintained,

Exactly a month ago, on my way to work, i had a stop over at Aponbo bridge, around cms, the moment i stepped out it was a vibrating all through i was so scarced and told a couple to people around me, seems to me they were used to it, but i want, the moment i saw a bike, i jumped on it after waitng for so long for a bus, because of the FEARthat the bridge might soon that very minute. since then i AVOID that route like hell. its very true that BRIDGE VIBRATES, espeically when tankers or heavy duty vehicles passes by.

Why is it that anytime an issue is being raised,it is taken for granted by the relevant body and govt? All hands ought to be involved so as to avoid 'the unknown' cos precious lives are always at risk.
Vibration or no vibration a body should be set up as fast as possible to look into such issue.
Maintainance culture is one of our great problems. Why do we spend so much money to execute projects but ignore to service them?

@Ajibson

. Dimango, wetin be the picture wey you come put for your post. Nah 3rd Mainland we dey gist not hottest boy on Nairaland. Anyway I see u are a newcomer. Welcome, but that picture is in the wrong place.

The first time I was on that bridge and it weaved I momentarily forgot everything my physics teacher taught me. The bridge was built by the swanky IBB government to amongst other things create a record as the longest bridge in west africa. Let's hope it doesn't create a different record soon.

The first time I was on that  bridge and it weaved I momentarily forgot everything my physics teacher taught me. The bridge was built by the swanky IBB government to amongst other things create a record as the longest bridge in west africa. Let's hope it doesn't create a different record soon.

well i dont know cause, cause i have never gotten down from the car when passing the bridge.

Hello Everyone, I am new to this forum and I happened accross it by accident. I was under the impression that there were already repairs underway on the Third mainland Bridge there in Lagos? Was I miss informed? Please let me know

Don't worry about it. The federal government will "swing into action" immediately after it collapses.

;d

don't worry the bridge has magic spells that will keep it from collapsing.  also, if a witch steals the spells and it collapses, the water is not too deep and you can swim or walk to shore - just remember to keep a spare spark plu handy so you can bust the window open if your car starts to sink in the muck.  also, watch out for the snakes in the water as i have been told that there are some very big snakes under the third mainland feeding off all the trash.

I just got an offline from a friend that the Third Mainland Bridge has finally collapsed after vibrating heavily throughout last night, how true is this

I heard another info, IT HAS SHIFTED - not collapsed, please let's avoid that route for now.

My boss just circulated a mail:

Hi All,

There have been reports about the collapse of a part of the third mainland bridge.

We have however called the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) who have dismissed these and confirmed that there was an accident on the bridge.


Please visit http://www.lastmalagos.com/ or call LASTMA hotlines 01 774 3026 or 01 470 3325 for traffic updates.

Regards,

Ol boy na wa o.
I just heard that now from a fellow staff but shrugged it off as a rumour. Been listening to eko fm on the internet for a while now and nothing on it yet

Thank God its not true! I just heard on metro fm news now that it was an accident that happened on the bridge, the bridge did not collapse.
I think that the goverment however should look into this issue as soon as possible, a panel was set up by the federal goverment actually(heard it on NTA news like 2weeks back) to look into the supposedly shifting and vibration of the bridge and they said it was being caused by dredging but really, they should start take action now or are they going to wait until the bridge collapses before something is done?
I pray that never happens because it would be too disastrous, God help us.

lie lie, i just passed there now the bridge is still dey kampe like our baba OBJ

na wa o !!! i was shocked when i heard the (false) news in my office, thank God it didnt.na my route be that o, God help us all.

The conflicting ideas here might bring the bridge to its knees i fear.But let's dont worry until we wake one morning to find that we have lost the bridge to time and corruption.No connotations intended.Good luck Nigeria!!

Hey guys & girls,av gone tru al your replies,that of an engineer and those of other occupation.Wel my question for the engineers is that Did those who built the 3rd mainland take into consideration that cars of such immense weigh wil stand stil on it at the same time?Note the brigde was built on a principle cald upthrust which means nt al d bars are torchn d ground.For d vibration no big deal al brigdes are built to vibrate but when the upthrust is exceeded please imagine(am not trying to scare here)

I suppose you are talking about uplift and not upthrust!  Upthrust (as I believe you mean) can not happen in Naija because we do not have a freezing ground condition caused by very low temperature (i.e. ice/snow).  

I can assure you that the structural integrity of that bridge cannot be compromised the way you fear it will.  All loading conditions must have been taken into consideration during the design.   Besides, a huge factor of safety must have been used as in all construction.  I suppose a compounding of the factors on the loads and the structural capacity of the materials used will surely make the bridge more than structurally sound for many years to come.

My fear however is not on the superstructure but on the foundation.  If indeed the foundation is being eroded away, then we might have a problem indeed.  However, failure of a foundation will cause a load redistribution to other foundations till a structural member is either overloaded or the entire foundation fails.  

If that happens, we will not witness the entire brifge falling down.  Only the overstressed section will collapse.  Engineers are smart enough to design the structure in sections independent of each other.  That way if a section fails, it will not bring the others down.

Na wa o i don fear cos na the only road linking me to my base except takin the ferry

and i no wan make fish use me do dinner,thank God sha say na false alam wetin we for

the talk now [color=#000099][/color]

TayoD, I appreciate your scholarly input but therein lies the probs with most of us engineers,  we simply fall in love with our ideas, our water-tight, quadruple checked, well iterated concepts and as a result we give the folks at Discovery channel more footages for their engineering disasters series! As a design engineer, you simply cannot factor in all the parameters that will influence your design throughout its life span! That is why we always add caveats that absolve us of culpability IF standard ops and maintenance procedures are not followed.
Back in the 80's the smart folks at J B probably never imagined the volume & spread of dredging activity the Lagos lagoon will experience 2 decades later (dredging w/o environmental impact assessments of course!). Also they never probably guessed at how dismal civil works maintenance will become in those coming years. . What am i getting at?
1. If only a 1 meter  split or subsidence occurs separating a section of that Bridge, I can assure you it WILL probably take 1 whole year or more to get it fixed. (the essential sense in sectional design of structures gets neutralized by politics!, [and meanwhile a highrise that partially collapsed in the centre of our Financial district(broad street) has remained in that dangerous & inglorious state for months!])
2. The root cause of that failure, will sooner or later affect similar sections, since the WHOLE bridge has been subjected to the same abuse!
3. A 4th mainland bridge that has since been advised as the panacea to taking most of the strain off the present bridge has remained on the drawing board for years (whilst state and fed politicos run about like decapitated chickens!).
In all, lets leave engineering out of the Nigerian context totally! In the domain of Nigerian Public works,  uncertainty simply tends to infinity and beyond!

@princezino,

Thanks for your input which is quite productive.

In one of my transportation classes back in the days, I remember the introduction to a textbook which I read. The author began by saying that engineers have come to design roadways in such a way as to eliminate accidents totally. He however said one major factor still remains which can make all other factors of non effect - MAN. In other words, man is unpredictable and no matter what you do to prevent accidents, the factor called MAN will find away to beat you at your scholarship.

While we expect the Government to ensure a regular maintenace to prevent compromising the structural integrity of the bridge, I find it difficult to believe that the present dredging of the river poses an immediate threat to its structural stability. The bridge by all indication is supported on piles which could go up to 100m or more in depth depending on the nature of the bedrock. The only way this could fail now is if it is exposed enough for it to be either hit my a vessel or perhaps buckle over its unsupported length. In the latter case, I doubt if the dredging has been that bad to make this situation a possible reality.

Reading this has been quite enlightening, never new we had so many "efikos" in the house with all this talk of resonance and uplift but i can assure you all that as long as a car or bus tumbles into the water every now and then to appease dem "iya oshorongas" the third mainland go dey "kampe" like my fav politician says

@babadee,

Plan to be on iya oshoronga's next menu?

i heard the gist about the 3rd mainland bridge today too.called a friend and she told me cos i work on d island. but i later found out it was a rumour.

now the bar beach is anoda source of concern cos it broke its boundry dis morning despite all the work they are doin to cub d strong tides.
THE TIDE DIS MORNING WAS SO STRONG,THE ROAD WAS FLOODED

What a low life inspired rumour. Hisssss!

yemmydavid,

Hope the bar beach gist is no rumour too.

I thank God that this calamity did not befall us, God is truely a Nigerian! The news spread like a wild fire today. It really put a lot of us into panic, until 100.5 Ray Power FM came up with the update, which was the authentic. We all have to thank God for saving Nigeria from that kind of hardship. Chukwu daalu!

the bar beach gist is not i rumour. i saw it myself cos i work around that place. etim inyang to be precise and that is where i take to work every day

@yemmidavid,

You must be kidding. Etim Inyang Crescent is way off the Bar Beach. Cool fm is on Etime Inyang Crescent and I just can't imagine the beach overflowing to that point without an attendant loss of lives. You are kidding right?