Inside the day Lagos–Ibadan Expressway became a human holding cell

A prolonged traffic gridlock on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway on Friday has once again exposed the fragility of transport infrastructure.

The disruption followed a collision involving two heavy-duty trucks near the Otedola Bridge area of Lagos, which blocked much of the carriageway on the inward route to the city. One person was killed in the crash, while traffic rapidly backed up across several kilometres, trapping commuters and commercial vehicles for hours.

Authorities said ongoing repair works on sections of the expressway, including maintenance of expansion joints on the Kara Bridge, compounded the congestion by narrowing lanes and slowing traffic flow at peak volumes. Traffic management agencies were deployed, but the incident highlighted the limited capacity of Nigeria’s busiest highway to absorb shocks.

The gridlock, which built up primarily around the Magboro–Alausa corridor of the expressway, forced motorists bound for Lagos from Mowe, Redemption Camp and Kara Bridge to divert through alternative and already congested inner-city routes, stretching travel times and escalating commuter frustrations.

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Hours stretched into misery

The gridlock that followed was unlike the usual morning crawl familiar to Lagosians. It stretched from Otedola Bridge all the way to the Berger area , a stretch that typically takes minutes to traverse , and snared commuters in its grip for hours.

For many, the road turned into a slow-moving purgatory of honking horns, stalled engines and human impatience.

“I have never seen anything like this in my life,” said Victoria, a commuter who spoke to PUNCH  while trapped in the baking sun from 11 a.m. “I was stuck for more than five hours. Thank God it wasn’t an explosion. If it had been, so many lives would have been lost,  there’s no alternative route here.”

The diversion routes.  meant to relieve pressure, instead became choked with traffic as frustrated motorists hunted for any available way out. Some abandoned their vehicles altogether, choosing to walk long distances to reach bus stops or nearby towns. Motorcycle riders risked their lives by riding against the flow of traffic, desperate to find a way around the bottleneck.

Parents and pupils caught in the gridlock

The human cost was not limited to time lost. Among those caught were parents trying to reach homes or workplaces and children returning from school. One mother, carrying a baby on her back and pulling a toddler by the hand, was seen making her way painfully along the roadside after she and her children were forced to leave a bus that had served as a slow-moving incubator of heat and stress.

“At one point my baby started vomiting; the children were crying endlessly,” she said. “This is the worst traffic I have ever experienced.”

Children trekked long distances under the scorching sun, some barely able to keep pace with the flow of weary pedestrians. For working parents, the delays were more than an annoyance: they threatened livelihoods and daily routines in communities already struggling with the rising cost of living.

Emergency response under scrutiny

Emergency responders, including police and traffic management operatives, were eventually deployed to manage the diversions and ensure order. Yet, for those stuck in the snarl, the response felt belated.

“The help didn’t come on time,” lamented one commuter. “Once it got bad, there was no swift intervention. It was chaos.”

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) confirmed that the congestion was compounded by ongoing repair works on the Kara Bridge expansion joints,  an infrastructure project intended to modernise the expressway, but which added to the bottleneck at a time when rapid incident clearing was most needed.

The Lagos–Ibadan Expressway has had a history of similar disruptions, as previous accidents and major repair works have repeatedly halted traffic and sparked public outcry. A multiple-vehicle collision on Kara Bridge earlier in January killed two commuters, and October 2025 saw at least six people, including a police officer, die in another multi-truck crash along the corridor.

But for those who endured Friday’s gridlock, the pain was not simply historical data. It was lived reality. hours lost, children exhausted, businesses delayed and individuals confronted with the harsh limits of Nigeria’s transport network.