Mäo interchange construction runs late as bus links advance

Work to rebuild the Mäo traffic interchange has missed its deadline, and crews will continue installing barriers for some time, ERR reports. Traffic has reopened and all connections have been restored, while plans are underway to bring local and long-distance buses to a stop by the Mäo viaduct.

Two roundabouts, four bus stops and a parking lot have been completed, along with new ramps connecting to the route. Traffic is not yet using the new parking lot, where construction materials remain, and buses are not stopping there yet, said Anti Palmi, head of the Transport Administration’s eastern department.

Urmas Kupp, director of the Järva Public Transport Centre, said both commercial operators and local buses are expected to stop by the viaduct to improve travel options for people in central Estonia. The centre also plans to run a feeder bus between Paide and Mäo.

Lux Express has applied to begin stopping at Mäo from October 14. Its current plan is for 10 buses a day in each direction, between Tallinn and Tartu, with one additional bus in each direction on weekends when extra services run.

About 70 long-distance buses cross the Mäo interchange in all directions each day, operated by six carriers. Several have expressed interest in stopping there, but no timetable changes have yet been approved, said Andres Ruubas, head of the public transport department at the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture.

Lux Express estimates that Mäo could attract a similar number of passengers to the Puhu junction stop in Põltsamaa, where the company carried just under 40,000 passengers last year. That would amount to three or four passengers per departure, said the company’s Estonia chief executive, Ingmar Roos.

Passengers at Mäo will initially have access only to container toilets. The Järva Public Transport Centre hopes to address this by selling the old travel terminal and building a new travel centre at the viaduct stop.