Work progressing on Saatse Boot bypasses in south Estonia
The Estonian Transport Administration has stated that construction of bypass roads around the Saatse Boot, a section of road crossing Russian territory, is on schedule.
Construction underway as planned
The Estonian Transport Administration has reported that the construction of new bypass roads around the Saatse Boot – a road segment in southern Estonia that passes through Russian territory – is proceeding according to plan. Last October, the government decided to close two sections of the Saatse–Ulitina road after men in unmarked uniforms were spotted there.
The Transport Administration is building two new road sections: a six-kilometer bypass around the Saatse Boot and a half-kilometer section around the Lutepää Triangle. The new road corridors have been laid out, embankment works are ongoing, and on one section, a high fence will separate the road from the border infrastructure, said Janar Taal, head of the Southern Road Maintenance Department of the Transport Administration.
Fence at Lutepää Triangle
At the Lutepää Triangle, construction work has progressed much further, and plans call for building a new fence. "To prevent unauthorized persons from accidentally ending up on the border strip or in the immediate vicinity of the border infrastructure, whether out of curiosity or for some other reason, we have agreed, purely as a preventive measure, that an additional fence or barrier will be built in this triangle," said Merle Tikk, project manager for the Police and Border Guard Board's eastern border construction project.
The fence will be slightly over two meters high. However, no such fence is planned around the Saatse Boot. "There will be a marshy area in between, so presumably no one will have much interest in going there, whether out of curiosity or for some other reason," Tikk said.
The Transport Administration confirmed that the work is proceeding on schedule.
