Skip to main content

Late delivery for Lagos to Ibadan highway upgrade

Completion of the Lagos to Ibadan highway upgrade in Nigeria will not occur until 2021. The improvement work was initially to have been delivered by 2017. However a string of delays to the work have resulted from insufficient funds and from contractors leaving the jobsite. The current Nigerian Government has now cleared the debts for the project. Around 50% of the highway upgrade has been carried out so far. The contractor Reynolds Construction Company is working on a section from the Sagamu Interchange to
November 22, 2018 Read time: 2 mins

Completion of the Lagos to Ibadan highway upgrade in Nigeria will not occur until 2021. The improvement work was initially to have been delivered by 2017. However a string of delays to the work have resulted from insufficient funds and from contractors leaving the jobsite. The current Nigerian Government has now cleared the debts for the project. Around 50% of the highway upgrade has been carried out so far. The contractor Reynolds Construction Company is working on a section from the Sagamu Interchange to Ibadan itself. The construction firm 7740 Julius Berger is now recommencing its operations on its section of the route, from Lagos to Sagamu Interchange. The Lagos State Government is working on the bus rapid transit (BRT) portion of the project. Meanwhile work has also been restarted on two footbridges crossing the highway.

The highway is important to Nigeria as it connects the country’s commercial hub (and former capital) Lagos with the city of Ibadan, another economically active location. The tolled route is one of the busiest in Nigeria and also Africa as a whole and plans to improve the link were approved under the previous administration, with work starting in 2013. However work has stalled a number of times due largely to funding issues. The existing 128km highway was completed in 1978, making it Nigeria’s first multi-lane express route. However the highway fell into disrepair and was also unable to cope with the volumes of traffic it was having to handle as a key route between the busy port of Lagos and the north of the country.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Land costs push up the price tag of the Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway
    August 23, 2018
    Ballooning land acquisition costs are pushing up the cost of the proposed 217km Dhaka-Chittagong Expressway, according to media reports. Under the project, the highways directorate has already widened 190km of the two-lane highway to four-lanes and constructed three flyovers. The sources also said now the agency has estimated the cost for constructing the full 217km at nearly US$2.4 billion without land acquisition cost.
  • Increasing importance of alternate truck routes
    February 14, 2012
    The fabled Silk Route from China to Europe takes many forms, and is again becoming increasingly important as Patrick Smithreports The ancient Silk Road was never a single caravan route, but covered hundreds of kilometres in width extending in length for around 10,000km. This is the view of the European International Road Transport Union (IRU), and many other countries and organisations, who point out that it is a system of routes covering many countries via a series of branch roads that dates back some 2
  • Riyadh’s transport infrastructure upgrade programme
    August 29, 2013
    IRF chairman and mayor of Riyadh, Eng Abdullah A Almogbel, discusses the city’s massive infrastructure investment and the pressing need for this development work Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh is fast growing with a pressing need for additional transport infrastructure resulting in a massive investment programme. The oil industry has fuelled Riyadh’s rapid expansion from being a medium sized town just 100 years ago, to its status as a major city today. With the explosion in vehicle use during the 20th ce
  • Weigh-in-motion key to maximising road life
    February 24, 2012
    The market and technology for weigh-in-motion systems continues to evolve – Mike Woof writes. for both mature and developing highway infrastructure networks, traffic densities play an important role in determining road wear and life. Monitoring traffic volumes and individual vehicle weight is crucial for ensuring roads can cope in the long term and that maintenance can be planned, while the problem of overloading can be eliminated.