The city government will soon announce a tender for the first part of the work and traffic management details are being finalized, said Deputy Mayor Vladimir Svet (Center). It is likely to start after the completion of the Old Habor (Vanasadam) tramway and its traffic restrictions have been lifted.

"And I believe that somewhere around the end of the summer, the beginning of the fall, when most of the construction in the port area and the Old Habor tram construction, in general, will be finishing, we will start with Peterburi tee," he said.

As the road is wide, it will not need to be completely closed.

There is no plan to narrow the road significantly as it is an important highway, Svet said.

"There will continue to be quite a lot of vehicles [there], public transport will continue to run there and probably more and more of it. And let's not forget that Peterburi tee is an important highway that connects other major highways and transport corridors," the official said.

There are no plans to increase the number of lanes, but more sidewalks and bicycle paths will be added as well as landscaping.

"We are trying to make Peterburi tee a street, at least in the part where there is more density. We can see that especially this urban end of Peterburi tee, from the Majaka to Smuuli, around it the urban space is slowly starting to change, new workplaces are coming in, new residents are coming in, and we also have to take these changes into account," he said.

After the reconstruction, the speed will be limited to 50 km/h along the whole road.

"Of course, it has to be said that in many places where the speed limit on Peterburi tee is currently 50 (km/h), people are driving over that limit. We are trying to design the streets so that if the speed limit is 50, then 50 is the speed limit," said Svet.

Whole road will be repaired in three to four years

Earlier plans envisioned dividing the work into two stages, but this has now been updated to four.

"The sections we need to build are very long, for a start. Secondly, they are very different," explained Svet.

For example, the section between the city limits and Kuuli tänav is flanked by a limestone quarry and urban space cannot be developed in this area. But on the other side of the road, the space can be developed. The industrial region around Smuuli also has shopping centers.

The Ülemiste terminal will also be built in the area the first stage of construction is taking place.

"What the next stage will be, and in what order, I hope we will be able to say by the end of spring. It will take three to four years to build in total, because the volumes are not comparable to anything we have built or renovated in Tallinn," he said.

The exact costs are not known either. Mayor Mihhail Kõlvart (Center) put the estimate at €40 million several years ago.

"Inflation has certainly done its job. So let's see where we end up. We can see that different processes in the construction market can balance each other out: some things go up, others go down. A very big factor is labor," said Svet.

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