Over two-metre-high fence to be erected at Saatse Saapa

Extensive bypass road construction work is underway in the Saatse Saapa border region, aimed at replacing road sections that currently run through Russian territory. A high wooden fence is also planned for the Lutepää triangle area to prevent unauthorised persons from approaching border infrastructure.

South Estonia's Saatse Saapa border region is the site of extensive road works designed to create alternatives to road sections that have previously crossed Russian territory. Following a government decision, two sections of the Saatse-Ulitina road that ran through Russian territory were closed in October last year, and now the construction of replacement roads is in full swing.

Two new bypasses

The Transport Administration is building two new sections: a six-kilometre bypass around Saatse Saapa and a half-kilometre section around the Lutepää triangle. Janar Taal, head of the Transport Administration's southern road maintenance division, explained that work on the site has now completed stump removal and soil has been removed across half the site. "We remove some where the elevation requires us to go lower, and then we fill in to create what becomes the new road surface in place of the existing ground level," said Taal.

High wooden fence rises at Lutepää

Construction work in the Lutepää triangle has progressed further, and it is already possible to see how the new road will run directly adjacent to the border fence. In the future, a wooden fence over two metres high will separate the road from the border strip. Merle Tikk, head of the Police and Border Guard Board's eastern border construction project, explained that such a solution is purely a precautionary measure. "While in general the state border and border strip are located away from publicly accessible roads and settlements, in this small saapa the state-owned bypass road will indeed be situated very close to the border," said Tikk.

The fence is designed to prevent unauthorised persons, whether out of curiosity or for other reasons, from accidentally approaching border infrastructure closely. The so-called boot area of Saatse Saapa will only have the fence planned for the Lutepää triangle, not across the entire saapa. "There is a boggy area in between, so presumably nobody, whether out of curiosity or for any other reason, will have much inclination to go there," added Tikk.

The Transport Administration confirmed that work is proceeding on schedule.