By GRACE ALEGBA

The Lagos State Government on Friday said it would begin the immediate rehabilitation of the Alapere footbridge in Ketu damaged in the early hours of the day by a truck.

This is contained in a statement by Mr. Shina Odunuga, spokesman for the Lagos State Ministry of Works and Infrastructure.

The statement said the bridge had been cordoned off for safety of residents as well as the strategic importance of the infrastructure.

It said eyewitness accounts said damage to the 11-year-old infrastructure was caused by impact of a container-laden truck carrying load higher than the headroom of the bridge.

It said the dismembered components of the bridge had been cleared from the highway for safety and necessary signages and visual displays to alert pedestrians installed and repairs process begun.

The statement said the bridge located on the ever-busy pedestrian bridge at Alapere/Estate Bus Stop on the Third Axial Road, had undergone inspection by Lagos State officials.

The statement said during the visit the officials from the Ministry of Transportation, Office of Infrastructure, Material Testing Laboratory, and Public Works Corporation did checks to ascertain the level of damage to the bridge.

The Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Oluwaseun Osiyemi, said the ascent to the bridge had been cordoned off, and more traffic personnel would be deployed to aid pedestrians crossing.

Osiyemi said signages and visual displays at night would be installed for pedestrians safety for the period repair works would last.

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Infrastructure, Mr. Olufemi Daramola, said integrity test would be carried out on top of the foot bridge to determine the extent of the damage.

Daramola added that the test would help to ascertain the amount of reconstruction works to be carried out on the bridge to make it structurally fit for continued public use.

Earlier, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Transportation, Mr Sola Giwa, visited the scene of the damaged bridge to coordinate traffic response activities and urged commuters to exercise caution

Giwa said recalcitrant drivers and the vehicles would be prosecuted under the extant laws. (NAN)