AS the Ministry of Works and Hitech pushes toward a full opening by May 2026, several practical lessons have emerged along the way.
- Time Saved Is Significant: The road substantially reduces travel time. A journey from Abijo to Victoria Island, which normally takes two hours, now takes about 30 minutes.
- Resist Speeding: This is not yet a finished highway. Treat it as an active construction site.
- Expect Continuous Changes: The road’s layout shifts weekly as work advances.
- Beware Local Habits: In more developed areas, from Jakande to Victoria Island, commercial motorcycles and some drivers flagrantly disobey traffic rules, driving one-way and creating hazards.
- Safety is Paramount: These behaviours have already caused fatalities, with at least two reported deaths in December
- Access Control is a Challenge: Hitech is striving to implement limited highway access, but entrenched behaviours from Lagos drivers make this a “tall order.”
- Urban driving habits intrude near developed areas such as Jakande, Oniru, and Victoria Island, including dangerous one-way motorcycle riding.
- Travel time may be reduced as more vehicles join the road. Work on the Lagos-Epe road means that more vehicles are diverting to the Coastal Road. It has led to more time spent on the ongoing bridge construction.
- Traffic furniture does not exist yet. As you drive along, there is no guidance unless you stop and ask. People get their bearings from the names of places along the existing Lagos-Epe Road.
- There are many estates along the right side of the road from Victoria Island to Eleko. Their presence confirms that the road project has been planned for a long time.
- The solar-powered streetlights work. But only in the completed areas; drivers follow the dark on the uncompleted sections at great risk.
- The road teaches lessons in geography. Remember the geography lessons about the visual perception effect? Lagos Coastal Road demonstrates how the “things look far, then suddenly close” visual effect works. It features motion parallax in which distant objects (buildings, signage, gantries, bridges, vehicles) remain visually “pinned” to the horizon for a long time, then suddenly move forward as the parallax effect kicks in.
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