Last week our roving reporter stumbled on a gridlock which occurred immediately after the Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Company main gate along the East-West Road.
The gridlock was worsened by the fall of two container-laden trucks adjacent each other on the road. This led to vehicles diverting to alternative routes especially, the road through Oyigbo.
The traffic jam had also led to sharp increases in transportation cost and loss of man-hours along the Port Harcourt – Eleme route as as vehicles boarded in Port Harcourt had to go through Oyigbo, a longer route before connecting Eleme through Agbonchia.
One of the two fallen trucks was towed away next day but the other was still blocking traffic at the time of this report. Several accidents involving motorcycle and tricycle riders trying to meander through the vehicular traffic were recorded.
It was a tough time for pedestrians and motorists plying the Eleme route, as they could not get across to their various businesses.
This was due to a tight gridlock brought about by the falling of the heavy duty trucks. The trucks had fallen as they made their way through collapsed sections of the road.
Our Correspondent was among pedestrians who, were forced to trek from the Aleto Bridge along the road to Akpajo Junction.
A 67 year old woman lamented thus: “Our Eleme Road has become another thing ooo! Going and coming is by trekking a long distance”.
The recurrent damage to the road has become an issue for public discourse both locally and nationally. Motorists and commuters that use the road to travel to Akwa Ibom, Cross River and other states as well as people working in the heavy industries and ports at Onne and Eleme corridor have been lamenting the loss of man-hours and businesses on the road. Two years ago, youths from the area locked down the road for one week to demand the reconstruction of the road.
The Federal Government when Senator Godswill Akpabio was the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs intervened and promised to reconstruct the road. A few months later, the road was transferred to the Federal Ministry of Works, which had a hybrid funding for road projects. Yet nothing was done.
