As it used to do annually during the rainy season, the completely failed Gombe-Bauchi Federal Highway has been cut off again following Sunday morning’s heavy downpour, leaving travellers on the busy road stranded without knowing the next option.
It was gathered that some travellers had to cancel their trips and turn back to either Gombe or Bauchi depending on the direction one is going, while others rerouted through Dukku in Gombe State, which is another dilapidated road needing attention and is a longer route to Bauchi, Jos, Abuja, and other parts of the country.
The bridge along Gombe-Bauchi Road at Bara village has been collapsing repeatedly every rainy season, disrupting movements to and from the two neighbouring states.
Travellers have lamented that although the bridge caved in three times last year, the governments of Bauchi and Gombe States have failed to repair it to make it stronger and passable because it is a federal highway abandoned by the Federal Government.
They said the collapsed bridge was only being partly mended with pieces of rocks, which, as they pointed out, provided temporary succour.
Meanwhile, Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir, has called on the Federal Government of Nigeria to, as a matter of urgency, find a permanent solution to the problem of the Bauchi-Gombe Federal Highway, which annually collapses.
On Sunday, the Governor paid an unscheduled inspection visit to the failed portion of the road at Kalajanga village where a bridge linking the road collapsed due to heavy rainfall over the weekend.
The Buchi-Gombe road bridge in Kaljanga village before Bara community in Kirfi local government area annually collapses after any heavy downpour, thereby throwing commuters and other road users into difficult situations.
Motorists driving on the road are now left with no choice but to follow the Gombe-Dukku-Darazo highway to navigate Bauchi, Jos, and Abuja, just as those coming from the Abuja axis and other states in the North East do.
Bala Mohammed, who was on hand to inspect the level of damage, ordered the contractor handling the road project to create an alternative road immediately before the official reconstruction of the bridge.
He said that the road is not for the people of Bauchi and Gombe States alone but for the entire North-Eastern states, and he urged the federal government to intensify efforts on the reconstruction of the collapsed bridge.
The Governor further said that since the road was taken over by the Federal Government for dualisation, a permanent solution must be provided to end the annual collapse of the bridge.
The Governor, however, appealed to motorists to bear with the situation and said that he would partner with the federal government to address the problem.
The representative of the construction company expressed his appreciation to the Governor for the quick response, assuring that at the moment, an alternative road will be created within three days before the start of the main project.
The Bauchi to Alkaleri-Bara portion of the road had failed for many years and was left unattended, thereby making users of the road go through a hectic situation just as every rainy season the two bridges in Kalajanga and Tashan Turmi must collapse.
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