Development and installation of ITS solutions in the Tallinn-Kose and Imavere-Võru sections of Tartu highway

TRAFFEST OÜ has been a long-term partner of the Transport Administration in planning and carrying out dynamic traffic management projects. A new section of the Tartu highway was completed a few years ago at Kose-Võõbu, where the Transport Administration put up variable-message traffic signs, but till this summer, the first 40 kilometres of the country’s most important highway, on the section from Tallinn to Kose, were still equipped with regular traffic signs with the reflective sheeting. In 2022, TRAFFEST OÜ supplemented the 2+2 section of the Tartu highway with smart road solutions up to Kose, where depending on the weather, road or traffic conditions, the employees of the Transport Administration’s traffic control centre can change the limit speed displayed on the traffic signs and provide real-time information to the drivers on the road. We have also put up information boards from Imavere up to Võru, which will keep making the 1+1 sections safer on the country’s most important highway.

With the help of cooperation partners, TRAFFEST OÜ has put up four large information boards above the road, as well as 33 speed limit signs and 10 signs combining warning signs and speed limits along the road. Furthermore, three additional traffic cameras and one traffic counting and surveillance system were set up. The infrastructure improvements were not limited to Harju County only. Eight medium-size and one small information board were put up on the other side of the 100th km post of Tartu highway – at Imavere, Põltsamaa, Kärevere, Ülenurme, Kambja, Vagula and Võrumõisa.

Dynamic traffic management and the provision of information to road users give the 2+2 road sections the flexibility needed to allow for speed limits appropriate to the weather and traffic conditions and allow for higher speed limits of up to 110 km/h in the winter with good weather conditions, which will help significantly reduce driving time. Variable-message traffic signs make sure road users are informed in emergency situations and in the event of any obstacles in traffic. Variable-message traffic signs are well visible to all road users and help the road owner communicate with the road users in the safest possible way by providing them with information on time and in the right place. According to the Transport Administration, smart traffic management solutions will reduce driving time by 0.8% on the entire route and by 5.6% on the 2+2 road sections and will improve traffic safety throughout the Tallinn-Tartu-Luhamaa-Riga transport corridor.