Ministry of Transport and Kaunas District. the municipality shrugged

“Let’s not make promises that we won’t be able to fulfill, but let’s try to do what we have planned as soon as possible,” asserted Vice Minister of Communications Mindaugas Tarnauskas. Together with the general director of the joint-stock company “Via Lietuva” Marius Švaikauskas, accompanied by the mayor of the Kaunas district Valerijaus Makūnas and his team, the vice-minister inspected the ongoing works in Pakauna on Friday and discussed how to speed up the planned projects.

Agreed to share the burden

“Via Lietuva” manages more than 21 thousand km of roads of state importance, almost 600 kilometers stretch through the territory of Kaunas district municipality. Although the funding is insufficient, M. Švaikauskas claimed that he would strive to raise the state road development and maintenance system to a higher quality level. The state considers the Via Baltica highway, the Utena highway, military mobility projects and improving the condition of bridges to be priorities, so less financially intensive road sections will be transferred to municipalities or managed by joint burden sharing. Such a model has already been approved by the central government of the country.

Back in 2018, the Kaunas District Municipality submitted to the then Lithuanian Road Directorate (now “Via Lietuva”) a list of streets that it would like to take over and fix. V. Makūnas regretted that the street transfer procedures were prolonged. “State roads cross almost every town. We need to prepare technical projects and simultaneously look for funding opportunities”, said the mayor.

Roads are managed in a complex manner

Today, one can make sure that some of the previous agreements of the Kaunas District Municipality with the Ministry of Transport are already bearing fruit. The guests viewed the Vytautas street crossing Zapyškis, where reconstruction works are underway. The municipality undertook to build underground electricity networks, install new lighting, a bus stop with a passenger waiting pavilion. “Via Lietuva” is responsible for the renewal of the roadway, the installation of footpaths and rain collection networks.

Thanking him for his cooperation, V. Makūnas asked M. Švaikauskas to speed up the transfer of the passenger pavilion. “We would like to do all the work at once,” said the mayor.

Vilkijos Čekiškės street is also undergoing major renovation: the roadway will also be repaired here, water and sewage systems will be managed, pedestrian paths, modern lighting, and a passenger waiting station will be installed.

The quality of work is not satisfactory

Traffic jams weigh on the fastest-growing wards of Domeikava, Karmėlava, Akademija and Ringaudės, but smaller settlements also have problems. For example, Kačerginė: the municipality reconstructed Šaltinii square and invested a lot in street infrastructure, but there is a lack of parking spaces in the resort town. It is also unsafe on the entrance road at the Šaltinė path, so M. Švaikauskas proposed to install barriers in its part.

Representatives of the Ministry of Transport also inspected the bicycle path being built between Ringaudis and Kačerginė, which cannot be completed due to the works carried out by ESO. The guests were also dissatisfied with the quality of the recently reconstructed road surface. “Such patches do the contractors no credit,” observed M. Švaikauskas, assuring that the defect of the road workers will be fixed.

Tens of thousands of cars pass by Šakiai highway every day, and the new transport hubs installed at the Academy have only partially improved the situation, so this area will continue to be under the Ministry of Transport’s sights. A road engineering study has already been started and will be presented this year, which will not only allow evaluating the traffic flows in the Akademijas-Ringaudės agglomeration, but will also offer optimal solutions to manage them. The Šiltnamių street connecting Aleksotas and Noreikiške needs changes already. Kaunas district municipality is determined to take over this connection.

Discussed 13 projects

A particularly difficult situation arose in the 12,000-population Domeikava district. The reconstruction of the Vandžiogala road that started in Sargėnai has further increased the traffic jams. In order to reduce the loads on the Vandžiogala highway, the Kaunas district municipality decided to buy a part of Ozo street with engineering communications and land plots from private individuals. The connection of Ozo street with other streets of Domeikava ward will improve the communication between Kumpia, Žemaitkiemi, Ražiai and other settlements with the city of Kaunas.

V. Makūnas asserted that Bažnyčios street connecting Domeikava with Lapės is among the most important priorities of the municipality. “In this zone there is Domeikava Gymnasium, Kindergarten “Upė”, we are planning to build a primary school, so it is very important to ensure safety”, said the mayor.

A total of 13 projects were discussed at the meeting with representatives of the Ministry of Transport. Zapyškis St. In the Church of John the Baptist, V. Makūnas presented the prepared project of a new pier to the guests, and there was a discussion about the possibilities of developing shipping in Nemunas and Neris.