By Austine Agbo Emmanuel, Kaduna

Following the Sallah festive season, the Kaduna-Abuja expressway returned to national consciousness, not for any improvement in infrastructure or security, but for the same familiar distress that has become the hallmark of the route.

At the heart of the nightmare lies the stretch between Jere and Katari, where thousands of travelers are routinely trapped in unending gridlocks, sometimes for hours, occasionally overnight, and almost always with heightened fear.

The once-busy and time-saving highway has now earned a reputation as one of Nigeria’s most distressing corridors. For motorists and commuters alike, the route has become a test of physical endurance and mental resilience. What should be a two hour journey from Kaduna to Abuja now often stretches to five or even seven hours, especially during festive rushes.

Travelers speak of long queues of vehicles stretching several kilometers, with many recounting how they were forced to remain idle for hours without explanation. 

Many of these delays occur around Jere and Katari, where a combination of failed road portions, multiple diversions, and poor traffic management has made movement extremely difficult. The road is pockmarked with craters large enough to halt trailers, while diversion points created to manage ongoing construction work often become choke points that grind all movement to a halt.

But bad roads are not the only worry. The stretch between Rijana, Katari, and Jere has also been described as a dangerous zone plagued by insecurity. This corridor, infamously tagged the triangle of death, has witnessed numerous attacks and abductions, with bandits exploiting the slow traffic to ambush travelers before the intervention of relevant security agencies that curbed the menace to the barest minimum. 

Rather than assuring travelers, the presence of security personnel often signals a high-risk area ahead. Many travelers now prefer to move in large convoys or wait until they are certain military escorts are present. In some cases, motorists are forced to turn back or sleep in their vehicles until it is considered safe to proceed.

Construction activities, rather than easing the burden, have become another source of concern. The pace of work by the contractor handling the road project, Julius Berger, has been slow, raising questions about project oversight and government commitment to solving the problem. 

For years, the reconstruction of the Abuja-Kaduna expressway has lingered without clear timelines. Temporary barriers erected around work zones are left unattended for days, further worsening the already unbearable traffic.

During the recent Sallah celebrations, the situation deteriorated further. Eyewitnesses reported seeing travelers stranded for over six hours on the Jere-Katari axis. A broken-down trailer blocked a section of the road, leading to a complete shutdown of movement. In the absence of traffic officers, desperate drivers tried to create their own paths, worsening the chaos.

What emerges from this recurring experience is a pattern that reflects deeper structural problems in road management, national infrastructure planning, and insecurity. For a major road that links the Northwest to the federal capital, the Kaduna-Abuja highway should be treated as a strategic economic and security priority. Yet, year after year, the same problems persist, leaving Nigerians to wonder if relief will ever come.

For many Nigerians, especially those from the North who must travel to Abuja for business, government activities, or festive visits, the highway remains a source of anxiety. Every approaching holiday brings not just the excitement of celebration but also the dread of being trapped in traffic or falling victim to bandits.

Until decisive action is taken, and until the road is fully reconstructed with security permanently restored, the Kaduna-Abuja expressway will remain more than just a route. It will continue to be a symbol of national neglect, a place where travel turns into trauma, and where festive journeys end in fatigue, frustration, and sometimes fear

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