Cyclists traveling near the Nemenčinė highway these days hit an obstacle. The path is surrounded by a fence, and the detour through the forest is poorly marked in some places, so many chose to drive on a busy road.
The trail, which is being demolished, was renovated in 2021. The municipality argued that the old one was in such poor condition that it was no longer possible to wait, and in addition, two traffic lanes will appear instead of the current path. But why couldn’t the planners have designed a new path three years ago, so that we don’t have to worry about it now?
Another problem is that road users at the stands prohibiting traffic did not bother to inform when the construction of the 6-kilometer bicycle and pedestrian path will be completed.
Outrageous non-economic activities
A former employee of the municipality who was outraged by such inefficiency, who asked not to be named, recalled that the new bicycle path, which will now be built, was planned ten years ago together with the reconstruction of the Nemenčinė highway.
However, the reconstruction of the Nemenčinės highway from Kairėnai Street to the border of Vilnius was not a priority for the incoming team of Mayor Remigijaus Šimašius for a long time.
During that period, the Nemenčinė highway was reconstructed in the territory of the Vilnius district. And the Vilnius municipality was only able to renovate the bicycle and pedestrian path, by the way, without fixing the old defect – puddles and mud that do not dry due to poor water drainage.
After the approval of the new reconstruction project, it became clear that the renovated path will have to be sacrificed for traffic lanes, because the Nemenčinė highway will not have two, but four traffic lanes.
You have to navigate on your phone
Although the bicycle and pedestrian path has been demolished for a couple of weeks and traffic on it is prohibited, it is not marked on the maps.
Sworn cyclist Tautvydas Levinskas noted that the old path was not in bad condition either. After driving through the roundabouts made of asphalt chips, he assured that he would have to suffer inconveniences, because the roundabouts are very confusing.
At the intersection of Nemenčinė highway and Lauraų street, he had to pull out his phone, because it was no longer clear where to continue.
Because the detour on Laurui street was not marked at all, and it was very dangerous to go up the mountain on the Nemenčinė highway. It’s a bit clearer after crossing the Veržuva stream bridge – there are detour signs and it crosses to the other side of the road, so you can feel the changes in traffic.
“It is possible to drive, but if someone does not like this road surface or is driving with children, for now, choose another road for a ride,” advised T. Levinskas.
The exact term was not specified
According to the representative of the municipality, Gabrielias Grubinskas, the newly installed two traffic lanes will be built in the place of the current bicycle and pedestrian path, therefore, when the preparatory works for the reconstruction of the Nemenčinė highway begin, the surface of the path is destroyed in the entire section of almost six kilometers long.
According to the project, not only additional traffic lanes will be built, but also rainwater collection ditches, new bicycle and pedestrian paths will be installed.
They will be on the same side of the road as before and will connect with the existing paths located outside the border of Vilnius.
According to G. Grubinskas, the reconstruction of the Nemenčinė highway carried out by the company “Eurovia Lietuva” will take place in stages, and the installed path will be available to use without waiting for the completion of all the works.
However, he could not specify the exact term.
The reconstruction of the entire Nemenčinė highway is planned to be completed in the first half of 2026.
There are traffic lights at intersections
Due to the preparatory works, the speed from Kairėnai Street to the Vilnius border will be limited to 50 kilometers per hour, traffic from Rudauši Sodų 7th Street will be diverted to the oncoming traffic lane.
In the near future, preparations will be made for the transformation of the Kairėnai street and Nemenčinė highway intersection from an unregulated intersection to a traffic light-regulated intersection.
During maintenance of this part of the road, from April 15 to August, car traffic will be diverted to the oncoming traffic lane.
The transport stops of the city of Veržuva will also be temporarily moved from both sides of the highway.
It is planned to install five intersections regulated by traffic lights on the renovated Nemenčinės highway at Kairėnai, Balžios, Lakštingala Sodų, Antavilių, Antavilių Sodų 1st streets. The intersection will be a roundabout at Balžio Street, and a traffic light for pedestrians will be installed at Karačiūnai Street.
Noise dampening walls will be installed at Kairenai, Karačiūnai and Laurai streets.
The highway stretches through a wooded area, so in preparation for the reconstruction, starting from April 15, the contractor will remove unprotected trees that fall into the protection zones of engineering networks. In order to widen the highway and make it safer, more trees will have to be removed. These works will take place in the second half of April.
It is not clear how much it will cost
The representative of the municipality assured that he could not answer the question of how much it will cost to demolish the old path and build a new one in another place.
“We do not have the opportunity to name the price of dismantling and installation separately, because it is part of the entire reconstruction project.
The entire reconstruction of the road will cost about 26.18 million euros, it is financed by the municipality and the Road Maintenance and Development Program,” he said.
According to the municipality, in 2021 the renovation of the bicycle and pedestrian path on Nemenčinė highway was carried out due to its very poor condition.
At that time, not repairing the path and waiting for the reconstruction of the road would not have been a suitable solution, because the existing infrastructure posed a risk to cyclists and pedestrians in terms of traffic safety.
There were many accidents
According to Mayor V.Benkunskas, the reconstruction of the Nemenčinė highway is one of the municipality’s biggest investments in improving the quality of streets this year: “Improving the quality of this extremely important exit will lead to smoother traffic and reduce the number of accidents.”
In his words, this reconstruction is a project that the people of Vilnius have been waiting for. After its implementation, communication with the Vilnius region in the north-east direction will become smoother, safer and of higher quality.
Nemenčinės highway is the main exit from Vilnius Nemenčinės, in the direction of Švenčioni.
Until now, it has only two lanes and it is almost impossible to overtake a slower moving car, long queues of cars and traffic jams were constantly formed on the street, many accidents occurred.
In addition, there is no street lighting. The Nemenčinė highway, which will be expanded from two lanes to four, also has a 2-meter-wide separating lane.
Settlers are being built in the former collective gardens near Kairėnai and Gvazdikai Soda streets, so the traffic will only intensify in the future. Redesigning the intersections and widening the highway to four lanes will increase traffic capacity and thus avoid traffic jams, making the road safer.
