2012 was a difficult year for the Estonian Road Administration, however, it was also the one that opened up many new possibilities. Last year, the ERA received both positive and negative attention from the public.
Most of the employees at the ERA have been part of the organisation for years and so they tend to perceive the impact of the on-going changes differently than those who have joined the ERA only recently. Changes are not made for the sake of changes but to achieve a specific purpose. Through organisational adjustments and new recruitments, the former developments were revised. Despite the changes in the management, the ERA continued its core activities.
Of the major projects, 2012 saw the completion of Loo-Maardu road section with 3+3 lanes, unique in Estonia; the entire Pärnu bypass was finally finished, as was Viitna bypass on Tallinn-Narva road and Haljala separate-grade junction; on the western part of Tartu bypass, the construction of Variku overpass and the 14.5-kilometre Võru-Räpina road section was completed.
As to the total distance in kilometres, the works covered 1600 km (except for cycle tracks, footpaths and bridges), which is less than in previous years, but is still the largest volume of all times in financial terms because of all the complex junctions.
Financially, the ERA delivered a strong performance, and cutting back on administrative costs is a good sign.
In the field of the Traffic Register, the activities of the ERA were aimed at ensuring the stability of the new application software ARIS2 and developing electronic services designed for the cooperation partners.
In the regional offices of the ERA, an average of 270 persons a day took the test (130 theory tests and 140 driving tests); in total, approximately 36 000 driving tests were taken. Next year, the ERA will also include raising the pass percentage of the tests in its priorities.
In the field of public transport, 42 new buses (bought with the resources obtained through CO2 emissions trading) were put into service for county lines. In 2012, the service of public carriage by bus within counties covered a total of 33.44 million kilometres.
In 2012, the number of fatalities in traffic accidents decreased compared with 2011. Fatal traffic accidents continued to be predominantly characterised by drunk drivers and those exceeding the speed limit.
The activity of the Estonian Road Museum and the events it organised were a source of positivity throughout 2012. In the Estonian Wonder of the Year 2012 competition, the museum came second with 1033 votes. This is a great recognition.
As for the public image of the ERA, there is still room to grow. The image has to improve and it should happen through the professionalism and work performance of our employees. The attitude of the ERA has to be one that strives to be better, taking into account what the public wants and what real life allows.
The year 2013 will bring new developments to the Estonian Road Administration, through new goals and action plans, which are based on the recently published strategy for the next three years.
While for the whole of Estonia the most memorable thing in 2011 was switching to euro, what the ERA remembered most was the extraordinarily long winter. That winter allowed us to use six ice roads during the second half of March – earlier, such opportunity has never been granted us by weather conditions.
By that time the last stage of building Pärnu bypass was finally reached, which had been a worrisome site for about a year. Namely, on March 16 the ERA submitted to the representatives of Latvian company SIA Binders and Estonian company AS KOGER & PARNERID the application for the termination of their contracts concerning the 1st and 2nd stage of the construction. With the new builder which was made up of Lemminkäinen Eesti AS, AS TREF and AS Teede REV-2 consortium a contract was concluded at the beginning of September for the completion of the object and the construction work continued in autumn.
In the middle of April another long process was solved: the ERA concluded a design and construction contract with the representatives of Nordecon AS and Ramboll Eesti AS for the design and construction of Aruvalla–Kose section, which had not been achieved so far for about two years. The reason for this was a dispute which lately has become quite a fad of a business.
In May, the ERA succeeded in two pretty different areas that vividly describe the extent of work of the administration. On May 9 the representatives of Lemminkäinen Eesti AS and AS Teede Tehnokeskus the design and construction contract for Haljala separate-grade junction was concluded with which it was agreed that together with the junction another section of Tallinn–Narva road that meets the requirements if class I will be built. At the end of the month, on May 31, the ERA signed a contract with the Czech company Iveco Czech Republic a. s. for the purchase of 110 county and city buses, which was financed by the amounts accruing from CO2 quota on the basis of the trading contract concluded by the Republic of Estonia and The Kingdom of Spain.
Before Midsummer, on June 20, the last 9.2 km gravel road section of the beach road in Saaremaa from Asuka to Võhma was covered with dust-free paving. This completed the work that had lasted for decades and now the entire length of the road along the northern shore of the island is dust-free.
During all these events the ERA lived in the course of the 1st half of the year under the pressure of making the amendments of the new Traffic Act known and supplementing the Traffic Register. On the same day the opportunity to submit simple inquiries at out hope page was activated. Now the licence plate checking the make and model of the vehicle, the limits entered in the Traffic Register and the registered pledges, the time of initial registration and the validity of technical certificates.
The most important events of the 2nd half of the year were mainly related to road construction. Apart from the above-mentioned Pärnu bypass completion contract, the joint offer of Nordecon and Järva Teed for the construction of Luige grade-separate crossing of Tallinn ringroad was signed at the beginning of September. At the end of the month, the construction contract with AS Teede REV-2 and OÜ Tilts Eesti branch was signed for Jõhvi junction, on the basis of which the old decrepit overpass will be replaced with a new double overpass.
On October 17, at the border of Estonia and Latvia, sections constructed on the road between Lilli, Rūijena and Valmiera within the framework of cross border cooperation of two states are surely a precedent, because in the course of one project 14 km of road was renovated on either side of the border. This year, in 2012 we expect a continuation of this cross border cooperation. We plan to renovate the next section from Kilingi-Nõmme across Jäärja up to Latvian border and an equally long section up to Mazsalacan. At the end of October the last stage of Pärnu bypass, the new Liivi section of Papiniidu extension was opened for traffic.
On November 9, the ERA concluded a contract with AS Alarmtec for purchasing mounting of 10 stationary automatic speed cameras on Tallinn–Narva road. So far, such cameras have only been installed on Tallinn–Tartu and Tallinn–Pärnu road. On November 24 the building of the Kaarepere junction between Jõgeva and Tartu was completed, in the course of which an at-grade railway intersection was replaced with a modern road overpass.
All together in 2011, 273 km paved roads were built, which is more than was built during the two previous seasons. Also the 71 km of cycling and pedestrian roads exceeds the same indicator of two previous years. A bit less than during the last year dust-free pavement (222 km) was built, gravel roads (332 km) were repaired and surface dressing (994 km) was performed. Besides, 31 bridges and overpasses were repaired. It may be said that the Estonian road network has developed quicker than general well-being and if we touch upon the shortness of resources, then this is unfortunately the trouble of maintenance of secondary roads. This is an area that has to be currently financed.
Good things occur by means of cooperation and consistent activities. The ERA thanks all its employees and cooperation partners and wishes everybody success in the following years. For more information about the ERA consult the following pages. Have a good read!
The year 2010 has been full of events and activities for the Estonian Road Administration and given us valuable experiences. The year began with heavy snowfalls and ended with snowstorms. However, meanwhile there was a heat period of record lenght in summertime.
Heavy snowfalls tested our winter maintenance capacity and although the roads are never in a perfect condition in winter, we can generally be satisfied with the winter maintenance level of national roads. Snowstorms at the end of the year, on the other hand, brought out shortcomings in our activities, which mainly concern cooperation and communication problems between different institutions.
Mention should be made of the new information system ARIS2, launched in April. At the end of the year transactions in the Vehicle Register increased almost to the level before the ecomomic crisis, after a relatively inactive period. Estonian economy in general started to recover from the crisis: activity in the construction area increased and the market situation improved. In investment area the improvement was still slow. The amount of road construction works, however, was the greatest of all times: several big projects were under construction, some in the initial, some in the final stage.
It became complicated to successfully implement projects for which bidding was made during the ecomomic crisis. A considerable rise of the prices of strategic building materials on the world market and too optimistic assessments of constructors became a problem.
Greater competition on the road construction market has made it difficult to select a suitable contracting partner for large-scale public procurement projects. It is also more and more difficult to conclude a bulky public procurement contract without disputes and, moreover, have it performed duely and of the required quality.
In June, an original out-door exhibition „Roadtime“ („Teeaeg”) was opened in the Road Museum. It will remain there permanently to illustrate the history of Estonian roads. Historical road environment, a traffic campus, a unique horse-driven post-coach, historical road construction equipment etc. are represented there.
In August the most expensive road construction project of all times in Estonia - Kukruse-Jõhvi secton was completed. That road section was notorious for fatal accidents, 2-3 fatalities per year during the last decade. At the beginning of October the most important road junction in Central Estonia - Mäo bypass was opened. It was a great step towards updating the road network of that region as well as enhancing the development of the region in general. The construction of Mäo bypass was publicly recognized by the award of the most important achievement of the year in Järvamaa („Järvamaa aasta tegu 2010”). By the end of the year, the repair project of Narva Sõpruse bridge, in which international companies successfully cooperated, was duely completed.
On 16. Dec. the Estonian parliament approved of the new Traffic Act, which had been elaborated by the ERA and which will be enforced on 1. July. In traffic safety the previous year was better than we had expected, the number of fatalities decreased by one fifth compared to the year 2009. The following pages will give more information about the activities of the ERA.
Enjoy the reading! Tamur Tsäkko Director General of the Estonian Road Administration
The passed year has been remarkable and full of transformations for the Estonian Road Administration. The present yearbook of the ERA gives you a thorough review of restructuring, usage of financial sources and definite results of activities that have taken place in 2009.
The draft Act initiated by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications about joining the Motor Vehicle Registration Centre (ARK) and the Road Administration into a single authority – the Estonian Road Administration (ERA) on July 1, 2009 – was adopted by the parliament in May.
The former duties of the ARK were divided between the Road Administration and its local institutions. Restructuring road centres into local institutions of the ERA – regional road administrations – meant their former list of duties being supplemented with the right to exercise state supervision and with the activities of vehicle registration bureaus, including examination, vehicle registration and supervision over driving schools and vehicle review centres. By that the regions were given wider rights of decision making in problems of local importance, and certain cost effectiveness has been achieved via reduction of auxiliary operations.
The changes connected with the joining are also felt by the users of our services. The new Road Administration is located in Tallinn, Pärnu Road 463a, but the Road Administration of the Northern Region has moved into the premises of the former ARK on Mäepealse 19. The Local Vehicle Register Bureau in Jõgeva has moved into the buildings owned by the road administration, and similar changes have been planned in Haapsalu and Kärdla.
Athough 2009 was a stressful year for all the institutions operating in the state sector, the ERA completed scheduled planning and costruction works despite a 300 million kroon budget reduction. No concessions were made regarding the quality of the basic activities. According to an inquiry among drivers road users were satisfied with the level of summer and winter road service.
Traffic safety has improved as well. The last year in traffic was better than ever expected, as the number of fatalities was two times smaller than in 2006. The number of fatalities is comparable to 1947, when the number of vehicles on our roads was a hundred times smaller. We can be grateful for such good results mainly to the traffic safety specialists and active work of the police.
The following pages will give a more precise overview of our activities.
Tamur Tsäkko Director General of the Estonian Road Administration
Annual Report 2008
15.05.2009
The present annual report of the Estonian Road Administration gives a thorough review about the financial resources, the specific activities and the achieved results of the ERA in 2008. As for an organization maintaining national roads, the last year was for the Road Administration differently notable and plenty of transformations.
First, funding of road management: based on the concretized prognosis the road management funds were reduced in the middle of 2008.
Second, restructuring the road management organization: five state trading companies were established on the basis of former road operations departments and performing of road operations works in Lääne-Viru, Pärnu, Saare, Tartu and Võru counties were rendered to entrepreneurs. The Road Administration with its subsidiary units was formed into a customer organization, as a result of what the total number of personnel decreased by a half.
Third, improvement of traffic safety: during the year 1863 personal injury accidents including 132 killed were registered in Estonia that is the smallest number of victims in last 50 years. Being so far in the rear part of EU countries by traffic safety level, Estonia could be compared with Italy, Spain and Belgium today.
Fourth, decrease of traffic flow: changes in country’s economy reflect directly in traffic flow. Fast growth of traffic density on main and basic roads in previous years has been replaced by fall first time in last 10 years.
Fifth, developments on Tallinn-Tartu road: Vaida-Aruvalla 6.8 km long I class road section was completed, construction of similar section on Mäo by-pass started and the tender for public procurement of design-construction works on Aruvalla-Kose section announced.
Sixth, studies to investigate satisfaction of road users: based on the inquiry carried out in 2008, 79% of drivers estimated the summer road conditions as “good or excellent”.
