Tallinn Mayor Taavi Aas (Centre) has said that the proposed Reidi Road (Reidi Tee) in central Tallinn has more supporters than opponents.
The new road, which is planned to service the Tallinn harbor area and is to run along the seafront towards the Russalka Monument in Kadriorg, has drawn criticism from environmentalists and others.
However, Aas pointed out that in his opinion large projects like this would always have their detractors and that the Reidi Road construction was nothing unusual in this regard.
He also noted that the route had been planned decades ago.
“Interestingly, for as long as the project remained on paper only, there was no opposition. As usual, it is only once that actual work starts on a project that people start to voice their criticism,” he said.
He also said that the name “Reidi Road” didn’t quite do the project justice since it was not merely a road designed for motor traffic only, but had many other aspects of which the road in the strict sense of the word was but a part.
Aas had previously stated that the Reidi Road was to include recreational facilities like a running track, presumably running alongside it, parking areas, and was to have a maximum speed limit of 40 km/h.
He was also keen to stress that the sandy beach areas beyond the Russalka monument would remain intact.
The development will “give people the option to move directly from the city center towards Pirita”,’ he explained, as well as developing the somewhat derelict seafront between the harbor and Kadriorg. Up to now such a journey would involve traveling up the main Narva Highway from the center before joining the Pirita Road at the main junction by Kadriorg Park, or using other often-congested routes.
“I think that there are more people who are perfectly happy with the work starting, and that proportion can only grow when the road is functioning,” he went on.
The Pirita Road itself, together with the embankment it runs along, was built in preparation for the 1980 Summer Olympic Games; the watersports events were hosted in Pirita. (ERR/Business World Magazine)