The Works Minister, Dave Umahi, has raised concerns about the persistent application of asphalt to the Third Mainland Bridge, warning that this practice could lead to vehicles overturning.
He shared these apprehensions during his appearance on Channels Television’s “Politics Today” on Friday.
During the interview, Umahi shed light on the issue, explaining, “You see, each carriageway of the Third Mainland Bridge is 14 meters, which means that each carriageway is two standard carriageways. So, we are dealing with 14 carriageways. What has happened is that in engineering design, there is what is called a dead load, and the asphalt is a dead load. What that bridge [design] is meant to carry is two inches of overlay asphalt.”
He further elaborated, “But over the years, in the course of maintenance, when a portion of it is scratched, what will happen is that they will come and clean it up and put another asphalt on it. So, we have an asphalt thickness of between four and twelve inches. So, if you are riding on that Third Mainland Bridge, you will see that you are on a superelevation, and that is dangerous. It can cause overturning. And again, it [Third Mainland Bridge] is not designed to carry that dead load.”
