18 linden trees on Ahtri and Kai streets and Narva Road will be replanted in a new location because of the construction of the Vanasadama tramway. Work on Kai Street will start today, on 11 April.

Eight linden trees on Ahtri Street will be transplanted – six trees will be replanted in the Löwenruh Park in Kristiine and two trees will find a new home in the pocket park created at Õismäe tee 105b. Eight linden trees will be dug up on Kai Street and replanted on the green area at the corner of Tuukri Street and Reidi Road. Two lindens growing on Narva Road will be transplanted to the green area on the Koidu 52 property. 

"During the many construction works taking place in the city, we try to preserve the existing landscaping as much as possible, but, unfortunately, this is not always possible: there are invisible underground communication lines that can damage the roots of both young and old trees," said Deputy Mayor Vladimir Svet. "We are experimenting with various solutions to overcome this obstacle: in some places, we are planting trees in containers, where they can mature without coming into contact with pipelines, and in other sites, we are planting larger trees instead of small saplings. Although transplanting trees is a complicated and expensive process, we decided on this solution in the case of the construction of the Vanasadama tramway and around twenty mature trees will be moved to new locations." 

The transplanting of the trees will start on Kai Street, where there are lindens with a 22-28 cm diameter at breast height. As a prerequisite for successful tree transplantation, the trees need to be dug up in an expert manner. The trees must be removed from the current site with the largest root ball possible, while still being transportable. After being dug up, the trees on Kai Street will be lifted onto a forklift and moved in an upright position to their new location. It takes 4-6 hours to transplant one tree. You can watch the process of replanting the trees on Kai Street live on Wednesday, 12 April at 10:00 at youtube.com/watch?v=o2IOfVcLo70. 

According to Kristiina Kupper, City Landscape Architect and Head of the Landscaping Division of the Tallinn Urban Environment and Public Works Department, the largest trees to be transplanted grow on Ahtri Street and their diameter at breast height is 26-30 cm. "These trees are so large that they cannot be transported upright to the new planting site, so they will be lifted onto the truck platform and placed there at an angle. It can take 24 hours to plant one such large tree. In order not to disturb traffic, these trees are transported to their new location at night. We have planned to begin with these works on 17 April," Kupper explained.

 Car traffic will not be affected by the works, but we ask pedestrians to follow temporary traffic control devices installed in the area! 

The deadline for the tree transplanting works is 26 April, 2023.