By the year 2030, Estonia is required to develop the highways that are part of the EU's core network — namely the Tallinn-Tartu and Tallinn-Pärnu-Ikla highways. The EU's requirements for main highways stipulate grade-separated interchanges and traffic directions separated by a median strip.

According to the Ministry of Climate, these requirements mean there is no obligation to upgrade the roads to four-lane highways. This, in turn, means that neither of the country's two main highways may ever be fully expanded into four-lane roads with 2+2 traffic lanes.

"These requirements apply to sections of road with an average daily traffic volume of more than 10,000 vehicles," explained Julia Bergštein, director of the Road Division at the Ministry of Climate.

"In other words, we can request an exemption for everything with traffic volumes below that," she continued. "We still have to notify and seek permission to either leave them unbuilt for now or postpone their construction."

According to Bergštein, stretches of highway with lower traffic volumes than 10,000 vehicles exist along both Tallinn-Pärnu-Ikla Highway and Tallinn-Tartu Highway. Together with the Transport Administration, the ministry is preparing an analysis to determine which stretches of highway to seek an exemption for from the EU.

"For example, we already know that the Uulu-Ikla section, where traffic averages 4,000 vehicles a day, is socioeconomically unreasonable to develop according to the requirements, so we're considering requesting an exemption for that," she noted. "There are other [such] sections too."

The ministry official explained that, with the current funding, it would only be realistic to develop about 50 kilometers of the 180-kilometer Tallinn-Pärnu-Ikla Highway in compliance with EU requirements by 2030.

The new four-lane stretch of the highway from Pärnu to Uulu was completed last summer. However, design work for the stretch from Uulu to Ikla has yet to even begin.

According to the Transport Administration, the construction of the 50-kilometer section from Uulu to Ikla will be delayed to the distant future.

"In terms of the Tallinn-Pärnu-Ikla Highway, this [stretch of the road] is at the very bottom of our list of priorities," acknowledged Johann Peetre, director of the Transport Administration's Mobility Planning Department.

"One of the main reasons for this is the low traffic volume," Peetre explained. "Secondly, no development plan exists for that [section], and planning could only begin once Rail Baltica issues have been resolved. Once those are finalized, we can start preparing the special development plan, after which design work can begin."

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