Some residents of Anthony Village, Lagos on Monday called on the Lagos State Government to construct a pedestrian bridge at Anthony axis on the Oshodi-Oworonshoki expressway.

  The residents also urged the government to create a bus-stop on the spot to ease crossing by pedestrians who currently dash across the expressway.

   Our correspondent  reports that the pleas followed frequent killing of pedestrians by fast moving vehicles on the road.

    Mike Adimabua, a telecommunications engineer working in the area said that with the Beko Ransome-Kuti Park on one side of the road, crossing the highway had become more dangerous.

“I suggest the government should build a pedestrian bridge here at the Anthony Oke axis because the place has become dangerous for pedestrians to cross.

“Buses and cars speed particularly here. With a bus stop, they will naturally slow down at this spot,’’ he said.

Adimabua added that residents of the area were used to boarding buses at that spot, “therefore, a bridge there would naturally be a good spot for a bus stop’’.

Mr Oyedeji Adediran, an Accountant who lives in the area, said that erection of a bridge would give residents the impression that government was concerned about their welfare.

“There are lots of problems here. A lot of accidents have been happening here and because of the traffic, it takes many minutes to cross the road. We need government’s help here,” he said.

Mrs Eberechi Ndukwe, a resident and mother of three, told newsmen that crossing the dual carriage way was a task for a mother and her children.

She said: “It is God’s intervention that has curtailed the number of deaths in ‘hit and run’ accidents here. With a pedestrian bridge, lives could be more secured’’.

Rafiu Lukman, an Okada operator, also called for a foot-bridge and bus-stop at Anthony Oke as that would help commercial motorcyclists operating in the area.

A Lagos State Transport Management Authority (LASTMA) official, who spoke to  newsmen on condition of anonymity, noted that the absence of a bridge and a bus-stop was making their job more tedious.

“By virtue of no bus-stop here, we have to enforce a no-parking order to keep busses from stopping and this is making most of the residents see us as inhuman and anti-people.

“They forget that we are doing our work. It is important that government undertakes structural readjustment of that highway for safety sake,” he said.

Investigation  reveals that it takes residents more than 30 minutes to cross the Oshodi-Oworonshoki expressway because of the free-flowing, heavy traffic on the road.