Route assessment in Estonia

Many new bike lanes have been built in Tallinn and nearby in recent years. For this reason, one daily section into Tallinn and one daily section out of Tallinn, both on Eurovelo 10/13, were chosen for the EuroVelo route assessment in Estonia.  

Lot’s to assess! 

Eurovelo was signposted in Estonia 2001-2002, and from those times a lot has changed in the traffic of Tallinn. The centre of Tallinn has developed a great deal, and bike lanes are a natural part of city traffic. The first assessment was done just by riding and making a visual overview of the route and the existing signs. The impression was that at many places, signs have been placed on the old routes while the new bike lanes running next to them have not been signposted. This is not necessarily the best option since new roads would be more safer as they are separated from cars, and they are more scenic. The EuroVelo routes should thus be partially realigned.   

The second assessment was made according to the Eurovelo Route inspector training and using the ECF Application. Pictures were taken inside application and with separate phone. The assessment was done by the City Bike OÜ staff.   

Next steps and measures 

As there are significant deviations from existing EureVelo standards, and there would be new safer roads with better routes available, the following steps have been taken after the assessment. The Tallinn City Authority was contacted, and discussions started on the subject. It seems that the topic is kind of a no-man’s-land. Estonia has no NECC nor a responsible person or organisation taking care of Eurovelo signposting. The Ministry of Transportation and the City Communal department share the tasks. For signposting, subcontracted companies are used.  

The National Tourist board and Tallinn City Tourist department were informed about the situation and potential solutions presented to them. At the same time, the Estonian Cycling Strategy is in the process and hopefully it could help to clarify the system.  

The aim is to update the Eurovelo sections mapped, and find a solution for the whole country. Signposting has not been updated since 2022, and previously there was only one person responsible for these updates, with up to 4000 operations yearly. Tallinn should get sorted by spring and relevant information also uploaded and sent to ECF, as at present the Eurovelo.com Estonia webpage has a dead link and is thus not informative.  

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