Intersection of Rail Baltic railway, Tallinn-Tartu road completed

TALLINN – One direction of traffic on the Assaku viaduct on the Tallinn-Tartu road was opened to traffic on Friday, marking the end of the works at the intersection of the future Rail Baltic railway and the significant traffic route.

The construction contract with AS TREV-2 Grupp, which carried out the work, was signed at the end of 2021 and construction work on the Assaku viaduct began in April this year. The official deadline for the end of the construction works is Oct. 15, 2023, which means that the viaduct was completed faster than originally planned, Rail Baltic Estonia said.

"Although the official deadline is 11 months away, the builder has completed most of the construction work by now. There is still marking work, landscaping and individual improvements to be done. This shows very good work organization and cooperation on the part of the client and the contractor," Vahur Loo, senior project manager at Rail Baltic Estonia, said in a press release.

According to him, both directions are expected to be opened to traffic next week.

The height of the road did not change during the construction of the viaduct and the railway will be built in the cutting under the viaduct in the future. The total length of the viaduct built along the 10th kilometer of the state road is 64 meters.

As a result of Russia's war in Ukraine, which started in February, the input prices of many construction materials and works increased, which also affected the final cost of the Assaku viaduct construction works. The total cost of the contract excluding VAT is 3.9 million euros. The construction is financed by Rail Baltic Estonia through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF).