Today, Minister of Transport and Communications Marius Skuodis presented the Lithuanian National Road Strategy at the Conference of Municipalities organised by the Ministry in Vilnius.
“The condition of Lithuanian roads is truly unsatisfactory. 38 % of all national roads do not meet the established quality criteria; therefore, in the near future, not only major strategic road projects are to be expected, but also continuous road repair works to stabilise and improve the condition of the roads. Successful road maintenance and development requires long-term planning – clear priorities, key directions and strategic projects for the nearest 15 years will allow better planning of works, and a more efficient and transparent use of funds required for infrastructure. At the same time, it will be a message to residents, state institutions, municipalities and business representatives planning their activities and investments,” said Marius Skuodis, Minister of Transport and Communications.
It is planned to modernise the highways Via Baltica and A1 Vilnius–Kaunas–Klaipėda that are part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), to reconstruct the highways A14 Vilnius–Utena, A9 Panevėžys–Šiauliai, Vilnius–Trakai and the national road No 130 Vilnius–Prienai–Alytus due to their poor condition or inconsistency with their traffic intensity.
Much of the work on these roads is expected to be completed by the end of 2024. During this period, with the works planned two years ahead, it is expected to reconstruct a 40 km long section of Via Baltica, from Marijampolė to the Lithuanian–Polish border (from 56.83 to 97.06 km), expanding the road to four lanes. Intensive works will take place on the concrete pavement road A14 Vilnius–Utena; this road is expected to be repaired by the end of 2025, while the section of this road up to Molėtai is planned to be completed before the end of 2024. In 2024–2026, it is planned to reconstruct road No 130 Vilnius–Prienai–Alytus, the section between Garliava and Prienai. It is also expected to complete reconstruction of 4 bridges over the highway A1 Vilnius–Kaunas–Klaipėda, along Kaunas, before 2025.
In order to stabilise and substantially improve the condition of the country’s roads, much attention will be paid to the maintenance of roads with worn off or too narrow surface, as well as to bridges and viaducts. Studies have shown that currently as many as 38 % of the national roads do not satisfy the surface condition index – it is expected to ensure that by 2024, the share of such roads should not reach 33 %, and by 2035 – only 12 %. 73 bridges and viaducts in the national road network are currently in poor condition. The width of nearly 200 km of the road surface is less than 5 m and does not conform to the road category – all these roads and bridges are planned to be repaired by 2035. Some 50 bridges and viaducts are planned to be repaired and about 45 km of narrow roads are to be widened already before 2024.
It is planned to continue pavement of the national gravel roads. It is expected that in 2021–2024, a total of at least 500 km of gravel roads will be paved, of which about 110 km will be running through settlements. It is expected to pave 1,900 km of gravel roads before 2035, ensuring that no more than 20 % of gravels remain in the national road network.
The network of pedestrian and bicycle paths will be expanded in Lithuania. Currently, there are about 1,500 km of bicycle paths near the national road network, of which about 700 km are in poor condition. In the period 2022–2035, it is planned to build about 600 km of new paths, increasing the length of bicycle paths in residential areas by nearly 50 %. In addition, the existing paths that are currently in poor condition will be repaired, with about half of them being planned to be renovated during the said period – a total of 350 km.
To achieve the goal established in the State Traffic Safety Programme “Vision 0” up to 2030 – to reduce the number of road fatalities by half compared to 2019 – it is expected to continue implementing engineering traffic safety measures on roads, and to reconstruct dangerous intersections and pedestrian crossings. It is aimed to reduce the number of dangerous pedestrian crossings to a zero before 2024, i.e., to reconstruct approx. 1,720 of such crossings. In 2022–2035, it is planned to rebuild about 140 one-level intersections.
