Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Kadri Simson (Centre) has announced that the ministry is backing an initiative to build a “Tartu Road delta road” or the so-called Smaller Tallinn Ring Road, in order to help calm road traffic on the major thoroughfares to the south of the city center of Tallinn, such as Tartu Road (Tartu Maantee), and reduce traffic volumes in the area of Tallinn Airport.
The minister said that with the maintenance plan of state roads for 2018-2022 an obligation would be placed on the Estonian Road Administration (Maanteeamet) to cost the proposed link, in collaboration with Tallinn Airport, the City of Tallinn and the Rae municipality, which lay to the south east of Tallinn along the main Tartu Road.
The decisions about participation in different phases of the construction of the road link are to be decided on after the completion of the preliminary design and the cost-benefit analysis, Simson said in a letter to the managing director of the Association of Municipalities of Harju County, Joel Jesse.
Following the endorsement of the maintenance plan of state roads for 2018-2022, the Road Administration will be able to take part in the project as the effective center of excellence in road maintenance and the party responsible for the procurement.
The smaller ring road is proposed to run from the east of the Airport and skirt round the south shore of Ulemiste Lake, which dominates the south-eastern approaches of the city, and is planned to consist of a link of the extension of Smuuli Road running from Lasnamae to Tartu Road in the area of Peetri village which lies next to the Airport, and a road linking up to Viljandi Road in the area of Valdeku Street further west, close to Nomme.
According to estimates, the new road will facilitate the reduction of traffic in the area surrounding Tallinn Airport by as much as 13,000 vehicles a day, and make transit smoother by reducing traffic in the area between the city centre, Jarvevana Road and the Ulemiste intersection. (ERR/Business World Magazine)
