Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Pere said the city government will begin the design process for the Tallinn main street project at the end of the summer, with a public consultation due to take place on June 11 at the Nordic Hotel Forum.

"There has been some kind of tone being conjured up suggesting the traffic will be blocked. The main street is the most thoroughly analyzed traffic project in Estonian history. There have been a lot of studies. The most recent and most substantial of these was commissioned from Ramboll Finland, a Finnish technology giant. An analysis made in 2018 showed that if a main street was created and public transport was placed in the middle of it, with trams and buses on the same track, then public transport would not get stuck – there would be no congestion. And there would also not be any congestion with public transport if it were 30 percent more frequent," Pere said.

"It won't block traffic there. Lanes will be maintained in both directions for cars – one plus one. As is the case, in fact, for the most part today. If you imagine Tammsaare Park and Musumägi, there's a big yawning Soviet asphalt strip. But there's actually one lane for cars there, so there's two lanes of public transit, trams in the middle, a bus lane and bus stops. That's the kind of sprawling asphalt space that this main street is going to go a long way toward addressing," said Pere.

"And one of the changes we've made to this design is that at Tallinn English College and the old Postimaja building, Pärnu maantee is very narrow. In the design, the tramline and cars were supposed to go on the same track," Pere added.

"We have now redesigned it so that public transport is in the middle and car lanes are kept in this narrow section. A spatial compromise has to be reached somehow at the expense of pedestrians and cyclists," he explained.

On Tuesday, former Mayor of Tallinn Mihhail Kõlvart (Center) criticized the relaunch of the main street project, saying it would still leave issues related to congestion and the movement of public transport unresolved.

The plans for the main street project are based on the winning entry of the 2019 design competition "Spring in the City" by architects Toomas Paaver (Linnalahendused OÜ), Indrek Kustavus (Extech Design OÜ), Indrek Peil, Siiri Vallner, Kristel Niisuke, Valdis Linde, Riin-Kärt Ranne (Kavakava OÜ).

On the basis of the design specifications, a detailed construction project will be drawn up, specifying all technical and spatial solutions. Construction work is expected to start in 2028.

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