ON THE PERSISTENT TRAFFIC JAM ON EFFURUN ROUNDABOUT, WARRI DELTA STATE, DESPITE THE FLY OVER BRIDGE

By Zik Gbemre

We were made to understand that the so-called fly over bridge at Effurun Roundabout Warri Delta State, is intended to reduce traffic jam, but from what we have observed, it has increased traffic hold up instead. Obviously, this is so because it was wrongly designed and poorly executed to aid easy flow of traffic as intended. This makes it practically a waste of public funds.

We believe the said fly over bridge is not achieving the purpose intended due to lack of proper design and planning of Delta State major Streets and Roads. State project should have value for money expended. Something has to be done urgently to reduce traffic jams around the so-called fly over bridge at Effurun roundabout to bring about easy flow of traffic. Motorists still spend hours just to cross from one part of the road to the other side at the said round about. The Delta State government should learn to execute projects with the purpose of actualizing what was intended. The purpose behind the construction of the Effurun fly over bridge has been defeated with the heavy traffic jam that still persists daily, especially during weekends. The project can be said not to be viable. The Delta State governor should verify and evaluate the so called fly over bridge in Effurun Roundabout and see for themselves.

For the way forward, we believe a fly over bridge in such a strategic Roundabout like the one in Effurun, should have several ‘diversions’ (if possible in all four directions), that would give motorists options on where to follow. Such a fly over bridge should start from afar off as it extends to other diversions before it gets to the Roundabout and after, and not a fly over bridge that only starts at the point of the Roundabout, and also runs from one direction (Warri/Sapele Rd) to the other side. If you would observe, the traffic jam is usually more from the Ughelli direction (i.e those coming from Ughelli and Port-Harcourt), and the Benin direction. One would have expected the said fly over bridge to have run diversions to these outlets so that motorists from these directions would simply run across to enter Warri with ease.

These are not abstract things but are observed in other parts of the world. Modern fly over bridges in strategic central locations are usually built with several diversions that are also afar off from the main road to the points of entry, with the roads under the fly over bridge providing several options for motorists as well.

There are several examples of how modern fly over bridges are constructed across the globe in places like Dallas, Baltimore, Atlanta, Detroit, St Paul, Houston etc. The Delta State government and its aides and officials are well travelled and I am sure they see some of these things. So why can’t they replicate same here? The sort of fly over bridge built in Effurun Roundabout is no longer in vogue. Nobody constructs such fly over bridges on a central roundabout anymore in modern cities. A fly over bridge that has only one route which starts at the point of the roundabout and ends at the other side does not address traffic jam because motorists will still have to gather at that ‘point’ before they can access other routes into town.

You might say having a fly over bridge with several diversions will cost much but that is not necessarily true. The problem we have with our Delta State government (both past and present) and their ‘preferred contractors’ is their ‘insincerity’ in the execution of infrastructural projects. Whenever such jobs of public utilities are issued, they see it as an opportunity to misappropriate funds and hurriedly execute the jobs, which the government also wants to use as publicity stunts to shine.

We are very sure that if we were to calculate the amount of money said to have been used to construct the said Effurun fly over bridge, we would be amazed to discover that the same amount can be used to construct a more modern fly over bridge with several diversions that would address traffic jam. Virtually everything that is used in the construction of such fly over bridges is sourced at home; from the different types of sand, to the iron rods, granites and cement. All that is really needed to make all the difference is in the ‘design’. And we have good Engineers and Architects that can do this here without looking for any expatriate. The Delta State government cannot expect a different result in project execution when the same old hands and circle of people are used. I think I have said enough on this.

Zik Gbemre, JP

National Coordinator

Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)