naptu2:
[size=14pt]Solutions to the Apapa/Surulere traffic jam[/size].

People keep trying to treat the symptoms without addressing the root cause of the problem. In 2008 I spent 3 hours on one spot on Park Lane, Apapa. The driver even suggested that I should take a motorcycle back to the island, but I refused because I wanted to study the situation. Many measures have been taken since then (deployment of naval personnel, banning of tankers, construction of more tanker parks, etc) but none of them have solved the problem.

Things weren't always this way. So what has changed and what is the solution?

1) Tankers: - Previously petroleum products came into the country through the Atlas Cove Jetty and were piped to depots at Ejigbo (Lagos), Mosimi (Ogun), Ibadan (Oyo), Ore (Ondo) and Ilorin (Kwara). This was the busiest pipeline network in the country and Atlas Cove is the biggest jetty for the reception of imported petroleum products in the country. There are other pipeline networks like the Kaduna, Minna, Suleja, Kano and Gusau network.

Tanker trucks in Ogun State went to the Mosimi Depot to load petroleum products, tankers in Oyo State went to Ibadan, tankers in Ondo went to Ore, tankers in Kwara went to Ilorin, tankers in Lagos went to Apapa and Ejigbo, etc. There were also a few private depots (especially in Lagos) that stored petroleum products on behalf of the NNPC.

The problem is that the NNPC does not trust the pipelines due to frequent incidents of pipeline vandalisation. They don't want to lose any more product/money, so they stopped piping petroleum products to the depots. Instead of piping petroleum products to the depots, tanker trucks come from as far away as Ilorin to load petroleum products in Apapa. The fact that the Kaduna Refinery has also not been functioning has meant that trucks also come from Kaduna, Kano and other places in the north to load petroleum products in Apapa. These tankers, unlike Lagos based tankers, cannot return to their base to wait for their turn to load, so they park on the streets. There was a time earlier this year when there were 6,000 out of state tankers in Lagos at the same time!

The solution is to first secure the pipelines by using technology, such as distributed accoustic sensing (DAS) to detect vandals before they attack the pipelines, using drones and CCTV cameras to identify the vandals and providing vehicles like helicopters and pickup trucks to the security forces so that they can rapidly respond to alerts. All of these should be coordinated by a properly staffed and equipped comand and control centre and the government should ensure that the vandals are prosecuted. The NNPC can then start piping products to depots again. The second necessary measure is to ban out of state trucks from loading petroleum products in Lagos. Doing this will take away half of the cause of the gridlock at Apapa.

2) Freight trucks: - Nigerians seem to be so fascinated by high speed passenger trains (MagLev lines and electric locomotives), that they've forgotten how important freight trains are. A good chunk of the traffic jams we experience can be eliminated if goods are moved by rail rather than by articulated trucks. The wear and tear that the road suffers would be minimised and the number of accidents caused by these trucks would be reduced. Businesses would also benefit from this as they would not have to pay illegal taxes and bribes that are demanded by policemen and area boys on the road. There would also be better security which would greatly minimise the problem of armed robbery on our highways.

The colonialists recognised the importance of freight trains, so they created an arm of the Lagos-Kano line that runs from the Ebute Metta junction on to the platform at the Apapa Port. Thus goods (like Dantata's groundnuts) could be moved directly from Kano to the port for export. This arm of the railway line had many sidings to industrial concerns in the Ijora and Apapa area. For example, there was a siding that ran to the old power station in Ijora (with the twin smoke stacks) so that coal could be moved by freight train from Enugu to the power station. Unfortunately some people have built over the railway line to the power station (and over some of the other lines in the area) but there are still sidings that go to Nigerian Flour Mills, Mobil, Oando, Total, etc.

The railways can also help to solve the problem of distribution of petroleum products. Petroleum products can be moved from state to state by rail tankers, rather than by tanker trucks.

I believe that one of the ways to solve the problem of the gridlock in Apapa and the degradation of the Apapa-Oworonshoki Expressway is for goods to be moved from the port primarily by trains and for trailer trucks to be banned from plying the roads between 6am-9pm.

The rail lines in the Apapa Port complex and the rail line from the Ebute Metta Junction to Apapa were rehabilitated by the AP Moeller-Maersk Group (a concessionaire at the Apapa Port) and the previous Federal Government, but users of the port complain that not enough trains have been provided to move goods out of the port. This issue must be addressed.

Indeed I think that the new ports that are being constructed across the country should also be linked by rail. I'm not sure if the blue line that's currently being constructed is dual purpose, but I think it's very important that there's a freight train service in the Ojo-Badagry area to service the new Badagry Port, the Energy City, the Agbara Industrial Estate, the car plant (VON/Stallion Motors), Alaba Markets, the Trade Fair Complex and to move goods coming from Benin Republic (by the way, I went past there last week and I was surprised at the progress that's been made on the Blue Line. The tracks had only been laid from Orile to Mile 2 the previous time I went there and the road expansion works terminated just after the Festac Bridge, but now the tracks have been laid beyond Festac and the expansion works had progressed beyond Amuwo Odofin. The rail bridge on the other side had gone beyond the Ebute Metta Creek, but I really hate what they've done to the creek). It's also important that the new Lekki Port, the Olokola Port and the Ibom Port should be linked to the national rail network.

3) Out of time goods (goods that have stayed longer than 28 days) at the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports should be moved to the Ikorodu Port by barges. This will free up space at those ports and also reduce the number of trucks on our roads. The Ikorodu Port should also be linked to the national rail newtork.


Basically, the solution to the problem is the same as the solution to the general transport problem in Lagos - mutlimodal transport. We can't keep depending on the road (for both passenger and goods transportation, but especially for transporting goods), we need to utilise and expand the rail system, the waterways, the air and even underground.


Photo of port construction in colonial Nigeria (note the railway tracks). Picturee by the Nigerian Ports Authority.


Below - a train carrying containers to Kaduna leaving APM Terminal at the Apapa Port

ziky2010:
I think his law on truck movement shld be reversed

twoondei:
Lagos is a stressful place to live in.

Just one twitch in someone's head, and your whole day can get completely ruined in traffic.

You spend a lot buying fuel, spend more on accommodation, pay more for everything and still end up in traffic.

If your house isn't close to work, no savings!

Sijo01:
Trekking is good for the body. They should keep it up.

john4reala:
my Dad slept in his car yesterday because of Traffic... This Morning at mile2 a trailer broke up in the middle of the road ..takes 1hr to loose just one Tyer

Yomieluv:
Didn't go out with car yesterday.

I saw hell,left surulere exactly 4pm,didn't get to agbara till 10:20pm.

I just couldn't walk,and okada were asking for exhorbitant fee.

ddhandsome2955:
OP what do you want us living in other part of the country to do
Suen pls do front page every poopoo people post here
Then people should post how they Bleep their woman in the night , you accept
Who cares if lagosians are treaking because of trafficking greed lock
Infact that issue is small thing compare to what happening in other parts of Nigeria and Abandoned in aboard State precisely , all road there is destroyed in the name of road construction. People in Aba even track more

jaegermesiter:
Stop making such statement.....bridges that are meant to sustain heavy weights,did u do anything engineering?? All designs are based on ULS.....ultimate limit state including a factor of safety

twoondei:
Lagos is a stressful place to live in.

Just one twitch in someone's head, and your whole day can get completely ruined in traffic.

You spend a lot buying fuel, spend more on accommodation, pay more for everything and still end up in traffic.

If your house isn't close to work, no savings!

ddhandsome2955:
OP what do you want us living in other part of the country to do
Suen pls do front page every poopoo people post here
Then people should post how they Bleep their woman in the night , you accept
Who cares if lagosians are treaking because of trafficking greed lock
Infact that issue is small thing compare to what happening in other parts of Nigeria and Abandoned in aboard State precisely , all road there is destroyed in the name of road construction. People in Aba even track more

manchester1:
that is y I need a private jet like ogbeni rauf to move round with ease

tolexy007:
Omo i almost got stranded at CMS yesterday night, when bus no quick show..e no funny at all, even the traffic don dey buld up again this morin.. Stress dey Lagos oo, guys no just get choice ni

Seun:
I have a three step solution to this traffic problem but I need a research assistant to help me to perfect it and present it the right way.

Yomieluv:
Didn't go out with car yesterday.

I saw hell,left surulere exactly 4pm,didn't get to agbara till 10:20pm.

I just couldn't walk,and okada were asking for exhorbitant fee.

Seun:
I have a three step solution to this traffic problem but I need a research assistant to help me to perfect it and present it the right way.

mikkypel:


Your dad had better begin to put bathing water, toothbrush, towel, toothpaste, stove and foodstuffs in his booth because of next time.. That one might take two days

ryanfletcher:
it's obvious you are not a lagosian

emmchi:
Shocked seeing those trailers queuing on bridges that are not meant to sustain heavy weight.

Use to wake up by 5am so as to beat the traffic. For where,its as if the motorists don't even sleep any more cause as early as 4am there are traffic in major routes.

emmchi:

Every structure has a weight limit that it could with stand before showing sign of stress.Sure bridges are meant to withstand a lot of stress and strain but with time it will start stressing the bridge.The engineers did not construct it so it can be used as a parking avenue for 1000s of kg trucks to be on it. E.g the bridges around ijora 7up