In 2025, five new structures crossing railways were added to the inventory: one associated with infrastructure developed by Estonian Railways (Eesti Raudtee), and four related to the construction of the Rail Baltica railway. Additionally, one culvert was converted into a bridge to improve fish migration routes, and one bridge was reconstructed to open the entire Loobu River as a migration path for fish. Modifications were carried out on nine different bridges. In total, the bridge inventory was updated through the construction of 15 new structures and the repair of seven existing bridges, covering 22 structures in total.
The simplest and most common classification is based on the type of structure:
- bridge – a structure designed to cross a body of water;
- viaduct – a structure designed to cross a landform or a man-made obstacle;
- tunnel – a structure designed to pass underneath an obstacle;
- greenbridge/-tunnel – a structure intended for the safe crossing of animals, either beneath or above a road.
Estonian state roads feature 939 bridges (79%), 159 viaducts (14%), 13 greenbridge (1%), and 77 tunnels (6%). For the purposes of this overview, all these types of structures are referred to as "bridges." From the perspective of a road user, the most important classification is the length required to cross an obstacle. Length is defined as the distance between the rear faces of the abutments, measured along the road axis
Based on length, bridges are categorized as follows:
- short bridge (length up to 25 m);
- medium-length bridge (length 25–100 m);
- long bridge (length over 100 m).
The majority of bridges on our national roads—854 in total—are short (69%); there are 309 medium-length bridges (26%) and 25 long bridges (2%). The average length of a bridge on the national road network is 22.2 m, with a total combined length of 30,807 m.
The longest bridge is the Variku Viaduct (420.8 m in length), located at 180.7 km of the Tallinn–Tartu–Võru–Luhamaa road.
Based on the primary construction material, they are classified as:
- concrete (reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete);
- metal (iron, steel);
- masonry (boulders and limestone);
- timber (glulam/glued laminated timber).
The majority, or 784 of the bridges on our national roads are made of concrete (77%), there are 221 (22%) metal bridges, 13 masonry bridges and 5 timber bridges (together comprise 1%) on national roads.
In addition to technical aspects, bridge can also be grouped on the basis of their age. About half (431) of the bridges on national roads were built during the period of 1950-1980. The average age of the bridges is 39.9 years.
On the graph is shown the number of bridges on the left side and average state of condition of the bridges on the right side.
Last updated: 22.10.2026
