Dense snow is beating against the car window, the wind is howling and pushing the car towards the edge, and there are icy bumps on the motorway, which make the car jump – a struggle to keep the car on the road. I quietly curse the car repair shop that closed at six on the dot, leaving a sad queue of drivers waiting at the door, for whom the first snow arrived unexpectedly and whose cars still had summer tyres. At moments like this, you just expect the motorway to take you quickly and safely to your destination. Luckily, there are perhaps only two or three such unpleasant moments each year. Art is everywhere!? Motorways are planned on the basis of the Acts of Planning, Road, Traffic, Building, Public Health, Water, Earth Deposits, etc. Designing a new motorway in Estonia is a relatively infrequent task: a village detour, or access to a new harbour, enterprise, shop, quarry, waste disposal site etc. The main job is to maintain the motorways – road work has grown according to the needs of traffic. Building a new motorway depends on the need, starting and finishing point, land use (private or state land), relief (hills, valleys and swamps), geology (peat/limestone/sand/clay),hydrology (rivers, lakes, groundwater and surface water), volume and composition of traffic, environmental protection (protected areas), heritage conservation, and the demands of the owners of utility networks and local governments. In this maze of wishes-requirements-orders, the contractors and designers of a project must find a compromise within the state’s financial means. 1 A motorway and its elements are so pragmatic, so fixed and determined that there is no place for emotions, experiences or art. Or Estonian motorways run through breathtakingly beautiful landscapes of fields, dotted by solitary houses, many of which are in rather dismal condition. You see an occasional abandoned windmill, a derelict barn, which seem picturesque. Flocks of birds fly above the motorway and animals wander by the roadside. It makes a lovely picture, unless they dash in front of your car. The storks’ nests are wonderful sights, especially in spring, when the chicks peer out from the nests. The autumn forests are joyously colourful. A motorway is a black ribbon running through a landscape, connecting different
Th o ugh ts on a road abo u t roads
Thoughts on a road about roads Margit Mutso
places as directly as possible. It requires certain signposts and traffic signs, with precise measurements and design. There are cameras that record speeders, which startle drivers and make them curse. At some crossroads, the ribbon is disrupted by a viaduct or a bridge, mostly untouched by an architect or the pragmatic drawing of an engineer. An engineer’s construction can be highly aesthetic, although this is quite rare on Estonian motorways. New village landscapes are separated from the motorway by dull traffic noise barriers, which hide houses and landscapes. In building a motorway, only the necessary work is done or, to be precise, as little as possible. It is expensive as it is. A motorway comes with such structures as bridges, waiting shelters, noise and other barriers – engineering structures with a certain purpose that also have to meet requirements regarding appearance. There are two possibilities that are not mutually exclusive: involving architects and designers, and training road engineers. The Road Administration has organised competitions for traffic nodes, bridges and bus pavilions, together with the Tallinn University of Applied Sciences. Study programmes for road engineers include such specialities as the landscape design of roads, the aesthetics of roads and the architecture of bridges. Instructions regarding these areas are being compiled in Estonian, but many manuals and instructions in English, Russian, Finnish, German, Swedish and Danish are available. Until their own manual is complete, the Road Administration has continued translating various foreign publications. It must be admitted, however, that road art is still in its infancy. Stop On a tiring journey, a driver expects to see some signs: half the trip is done, here is a small pub and petrol station – I will make a stop, have a cup of coffee and fill up the car as well; two thirds done – I will have something to eat before getting to town... The driver’s landmarks are roadside structures: places to eat, petrol stations and shops. A roadside pub full of travellers has its very own charm, an aura different than an evening place of entertainment in a city centre. Here, people stop by, and brief encounters take place. After a long journey, especially on your own, it is nice to sit and look at a more
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