Road Users Stranded as Flood Cuts off Gombe-Bauchi Highway, Bridge

Commuters are counting their losses as the perennial rainy season has led to the collapse of the completely failed Gombe-Bauchi Federal Highway following Sunday morning’s heavy downpour, leaving them on the busy road stranded without knowing the next option.

Gentechnews gathered that some travellers had to cancel their trips and turn back to either Gombe or Bauchi, while others did a detour through Dukku in Gombe State, which is another dilapidated road begging for attention

It was also gathered that the bridge along Gombe-Bauchi Road at Bara village has been collapsing repetitively every rainy season, disrupting movements to and from the two neighbouring states.

According to some travellers the bridge caved in three times last year and the governments of Bauchi and Gombe States failed to repair it to make it stronger and passable because it is a federal highway abandoned by the Federal Government.

They lamented that the collapsed bridge was only being partly mended with pieces of rocks to make it accessible before this latest incident.

The Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir, who 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, has called on the Federal Government to find a permanent solution to the problem of the Bauchi-Gombe Federal Highway, which annually collapses.

Meanwhile, Bala Mohammed has ordered the contractor handling the road project to create an alternative road immediately before the official reconstruction of the bridge.

The representative of the construction company thanked the Governor for the quick response, assuring that an alternative road will be created within three days before the start of the main project.