Yesterday, road construction and engineering awards named after engineer Aadu Lassi were given to engineering construction project director Tiit Joosti and the lifetime achievement award was bestowed on Siim Idnurm, who has worked in road construction for decades.
Over his more than 25-year-long career, Tiit Joosti has managed to build diverse buildings at Merko and has been in charge of complicated technical engineering projects entailing a great amount of responsibility. Under his watch, many tramways, a tram tunnel under an operating railway, port infrastructure, a large-scale landfill, various water supply projects and many traffic junctions with their bridges and overpasses have all been completed. His latest completed project was the establishment of the Vanasadama (Old Harbour) tramway, in cooperation with KMG. Tiit is currently a key person on an international alliance team working on the Rail Baltica railway between Tallinn’s Ülemiste passenger terminal and Pärnu.
Tiit has won state prizes earlier in his career. In 2013, he was named Construction Engineer of the Year for the construction of Ülemiste traffic junction and in 2010 he was named Builder of the Year for the traffic area of Ämari Air Base and its infrastructure.
Lifetime achievement winner Siim Idnurm has been active in road construction in Estonia for several decades. He has designed more than 30 bridges, of which most ended up being built. Tartu’s Ihaste bridge, Kurgja suspension bridge, Rannu-Jõesuu mesh arch bridge and Puurmani arch bridge are just a few of the noteworthy ones. Puurmani was chosen as the Concrete Structure of the Year and was built by Merko.
The award recipients were chosen by an eight-member committee. Invited by the Transport Board and the Estonian Infra Construction Association, members included representatives from professional associations, road construction education institutes and the private sector.
The Aadu Lassi road engineering and construction prize has been awarded annually since 2018. Aadu Lassi was the longest-serving technological leader in the road sector in Estonia. A total of 33 years of his 50-year career were spent working as the head Estonian road engineer. In 1998, Lassi received an Order of the White Star decoration.
