Reconstructed Mäo Road Junction in Estonia Opens, but Bus Passengers Still Lack a Proper Toilet
In Mäo, a village in Estonia's Järva County, a rebuilt transport junction with five bus stops and two roundabouts has opened. Passengers still have no full toilet facility, only a temporary container.
Reconstruction of the transport junction in Mäo, a village in Estonia's Järva County, was officially completed on Friday. The junction, on the Tallinn–Tartu highway, now has five bus stops, two roundabouts and a car park for 30 vehicles. However, bus passengers have no proper toilet, and a toilet container is temporarily used instead.
At midday on Friday, a Lux Express bus made a symbolic first stop in Mäo to mark the end of construction and the start of bus services there. The event was reported by ETV's news programme "Aktuaalne kaamera".
Urmas Kupp, director of the Järva County public transport centre, said that from Monday morning 10 Lux Express services towards Tallinn and 10 towards Tartu would stop in Mäo. Other bus companies have also shown interest in the stops and could join from 2 November.
Who is responsible for a terminal
Priit Sauk, director general of the Estonian Transport Administration, stressed that the agency has neither the duty nor the right to spend money on building additional passenger terminals. Its task is to maintain and develop state roads, while stops and terminals can be built by public transport centres and local governments.
The Järva County public transport centre already has a plan to sell the old, empty passenger terminal standing in the middle of a field and use the proceeds to build a new terminal in Mäo. That would also resolve the toilet problem.
Infrastructure Minister Kuldar Leiss (Reform Party) said that building a new passenger terminal should not be solely the concern of Järva County local authorities. In his view, cooperation between the state and local governments is the most logical solution for such facilities.
The next stage
On Friday, reconstruction of the section of the Tallinn–Tartu highway between Käsukonna and Imavere was also symbolically launched. About two years are allotted for the project. Although the stretch is only eight kilometres long, the project includes the Imavere junction, where traffic from the Viljandi direction will be redirected to the Tallinn–Tartu highway. A multi-level interchange and safe slip roads will be built.
Sauk added that about 15–16 kilometres remain between Mäo and Käsukonna that also need reconstruction. The section is included in road plans, and the agency would like to start building it within the next couple of years if the new funding period allows.
