Construction of the road, which is to be built by KMG Inseneriehituse AS and Verston Ehitus OÜ, is to begin at noon on Monday, 23 July, Tallinn city government said. Work will begin at the head of Pikksilma Street, on the grounds of the former Kadriorg Tivoli.

Work will begin with the digging of a channel for the road and the construction of a new shore reinforcement.

Reidi Road will create a northern passage for transit traffic otherwise passing through the city centre to ensure a faster and safer connection from Tallinn's ports to the highways of North Estonia by which international traffic and cargo transport can take place.

Altogether 14 km of roads, pedestrian roads and bicycle roads are to be built, including two kilometres of roads for vehicular traffic.

In the course of the project, 500 trees and some 60,000 bushes will be planted and 40,000 sq m of lawn laid.

KMG Inseneriehituse AS and Verston Ehitus OÜ were selected as the winners in a public procurement tender announced by the City of Tallinn.

The first tender to find the main contractor failed last year as all entries received exceeded the estimated cost of the project by more than €11 million.

The Reidi Road project is supported by the EU's Cohesion Fund with a support rate of 85%; it is also co-financed by the Estonian state-owned port company Port of Tallinn. Construction of the road is scheduled to take 550 days.