According to the project for the renovation of the Sõpruse Bridge, all four traffic lanes will be repaired, and wider bicycle and pedestrian paths will be added. The bridge will be widened on both sides, and the street layout on the Karlova side will also be altered as part of the reconstruction. However, the Sõpruse roundabout near the Eeden shopping center will not be rebuilt.

Five bids were submitted for the bridge reconstruction, with AS Tref making the best offer at €18.37 million. Tartu Deputy Mayor Raimond Tamm explained that Tref's bid includes both the bridge reconstruction and the redesign of the Karlova-side street layout.

"The project extends to Kalevi tänav, and includes various nearby intersections connected to Turu tänav – the Männi-Turu-Jõe intersection and the Turu-Rebase intersection. These are all part of the bid package," Tamm explained.

The city of Tartu had estimated the cost of the bridge reconstruction at around €12 million in its budget strategy and this year's city budget, which is over six million euros less than Tref's current bid. Tamm explained that the higher cost is primarily due to a change in methodology and a calculation error.

"There was a significantly smaller volume of concrete work estimated, which was purely a calculation error. As far as we know, it was a human mistake. Construction-wise, what made the project more expensive than originally planned was the need to elevate the bridge for reconstruction, which alone added around half a million euros to the cost," Tamm said.

Given the increased costs, the city must decide in the coming weeks how to proceed with the reconstruction of the Sõpruse Bridge. According to Tamm, the bridge is in need of repairs, and there are two options: to seek additional funding and sign a contract with Tref, or to alter the project and only reconstruct the bridge, leaving out the planned redesign of the Karlova-side street layout.

"Since the sums involved are considerable, and these decisions have a significant impact, it's clear that if we need extra funding, it must be approved in the budget strategy, and discussions on the budget strategy are coming up soon in the city council," Tamm noted.

"If we opt for a smaller investment than originally planned, then the previous decision made by the council to conduct the procurement will no longer apply. Since the scope of work changes, we will need to ask the council for a new decision to proceed with the procurement."

If the project requires redesigning, construction on the bridge will not begin this year, meaning its completion will be delayed by approximately one year.

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