FG Approves Expansion of Fourth Legacy Highway, Reconstruction of Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

In a major push for national infrastructure development, the federal administration has approved a series of extensive highway projects designed to transform regional connectivity, including a massive extension of the Fourth Legacy Highway and the complete reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The strategic road network expansion includes:

The Fourth Legacy Highway Extension: The corridor’s length will increase to approximately 1,100 kilometres following the approval of an additional 400 kilometres. This extension will route the highway through Taraba State, establishing a stronger physical link between the North-Central and North-East regions.

The Lagos-Ibadan Expressway Reconstruction: The key transport corridor will undergo complete reconstruction using reinforced concrete pavement. The decision to pivot from asphalt to reinforced concrete follows recurring structural failures on sections of the highway within five years of previous rehabilitation works.

The East-West Road Dualisation: An additional 400 kilometres of the East-West Road corridor, stretching from Lokoja down to Benin, will be dualised to bolster regional trade and driver safety.

Critical Bridge Interventions: Approval has been granted to complete the abandoned Ibi Bridge in Taraba State which stalled at roughly 40 percent completion after its 2018 award alongside the design, procurement, and award of the new 5.76-kilometre Lau Bridge across the Benue River.

The Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway has also been officially renamed the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Coastal Highway to honor the president’s decades-long vision for the corridor, which he first conceptualized as Governor of Lagos State.

Work on the coastal highway is currently advancing across multiple sections. The first section, spanning from Victoria Island to Eleko Village, features a dual carriageway designed with a 25-metre median reserved for a future railway line. The second section, running from Eleko to the Lagos-Ogun boundary, has progressed significantly with expectations of near-completion by late November, excluding complex bridge structures.

To accommodate heavy industrial transit near the Dangote Refinery, specialized mega bridges and flyovers are being integrated into the coastal route. Construction is also underway on sections crossing through Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Ogun, and Ondo states.

Progress is simultaneously being recorded on other major pathways, including the Sokoto-Badagry Super Highway and the Trans-Sahara Highway. These ongoing works aim to dramatically cut transit times across key economic corridors, such as reducing travel times from Sokoto to Lagos and between the South-East and the Federal Capital Territory.