[LT] Highways & Motorways in Lithuania • Lietuvos keliai

[Agnette]

Driving in the East Lithuania, roads 102 and 4415, 8 Jul 2011:



Map: http://goo.gl/Jv2OH

[Trilesy]

Nice video.

Beautiful landscape and road quality is great (except when driving through towns). I noticed there is a substantial amount of sand/dirt on the sides of the road (especially in towns). Do you guys know where it comes from? Is it from large trucks with sand due to construction?

[bleetz]

It's there on purpose. This question was raised quite a few times as it looks ugly but it seems like nobody cares. There are new roads where they don't put as much sand on the sides but you do get it in most roads unfortunately.

[ChrisZwolle]

It's safer to have an improved roadside. However, full paved shoulders are often used as de-facto additional lanes, which are not safe.

[mcarling]

Dirt is intentionally deposited on the roads and pavements/sidewalks during icy conditions to improve traction because dirt is cheaper than salt. It makes Vilnius one of the muddiest capital cities in Europe. I think the practice is a relic of soviet times.

[Rebasepoiss]

Originally Posted by ChrisZwolle

It's safer to have an improved roadside. However, full paved shoulders are often used as de-facto additional lanes, which are not safe.

True. In the Baltics, unlike in Poland, for example, we tend to use gravel-ish enforced shoulders rather than paved ones. They're strong enough to stop your car on in case of an emergency but you still wouldn't want to drive there.

When talking about sand in cities, (as mcarling mentioned) it's often the case of throwing sand on sidewalks during winter to increase friction. However, this sand easily turns into mud when wet and dust when dry. That's why in Tallinn, for example, using sand on sidewalks during winter is illegal, instead granite rubble is used.

[Trilesy]

Originally Posted by mcarling

Dirt is intentionally deposited on the roads and pavements/sidewalks during icy conditions to improve traction because dirt is cheaper than salt. It makes Vilnius one of the muddiest capital cities in Europe. I think the practice is a relic of soviet times.

Thanks, this makes sence. I agree salt keeps roads a lot cleaner when all the snow melts.

[Nima-Farid]

Originally Posted by Xmaster

Seems, that internet forumers do the best photos, even better than journalist. Some more lovely pics from intersection. Photos are made by Audrius from miestai.net

By the way - not lots of drivers know, that is already opened, so stretch is quite empty and also it does make journey quicker by not insignificant time. It will be much better when second stage will be completed.





Cool that constructors paid attention to the look of estacades. In my opinion lighting is made quite perfect








This one was made by Lettered from miestai.net. View from the top of tunnel

nice interchange and excelent lighting!

[Pansori]

Photos of Jakai Roundabout near Klaipeda.

All photos by Kestutis Fedirka from www.lithuania-photo.com and www.fotoskrydis.lt

[Rebasepoiss]

I was there a couple of months ago and I noticed that they're painting the concrete surface of the viaducts. Is it really necessary? I mean, doesn't paint require much more maintenance in the long run than bare concrete? Also, I personally think that bare concrete is aesthetically more pleasing than painted concrete.

[Pansori]

Totally agree here... but it seems they have a different view on this.

[mcarling]

Originally Posted by Rebasepoiss

I noticed that they're painting the concrete surface of the viaducts. Is it really necessary? I mean, doesn't paint require much more maintenance in the long run than bare concrete? Also, I personally think that bare concrete is aesthetically more pleasing than painted concrete.

Do you mean painting or paving?

[Rebasepoiss]

Painting

[Xmaster]

In my opinion painted concrete looks better. Usual, not painted, concrete, especially during autumn and winter, looks terrible.

[bleetz]

It looks better when it's new, but it requires maintenance. Poorly maintained painted surfaces look worse than unpaited ones. It is quite low-tech maintenance though, so let's hope they just give it to criminals as unpaid work or something.

[Pansori]

A map of the planned A1 reconstruction near Kaunas. This is going to be one of the largest and most needed road projects in Lithuania in a long time. All major junctions will be rebuilt as well. Speed limit should be increased to 110-130km/h from the current 80km/h in the entire stretch.



The stretch is located on the Northern boundary of Kaunas city and is only 13km long, however it is by far the busiest stretch of any road in Lithuania with AADT of around 35000-40000. With its current 2+2 configuration (without hard shoulders in places and inadequate exits/merging) is getting absolutely inadequate and even dangerous


My own video made in 2010. The reconstruction stretch from around 0:48 to around 2:44

[mcarling]

When is this expected to be completed?

[RipleyLV]

Originally Posted by Pansori

All major junctions will be rebuilt as well.

I see that there is a roundabout planned next to A1/A5 junction, question - will there be some changes made in the current layout of this multilevel junction?

[Rapter]

Well, it certainly won't have an effect on the A1 road, perhaps another enterance or exit will be built for it from the A1, no idea about A5 though...

[Xmaster]

There will be some changes in a mentioned intersection, you could see a pic below:


One new junction will be built too:


This one is questionable. Don't know if it's a good idea to convert existing cloverleaf style intersection (A1 and A6 roads junction) into this:


So the entire stretch is planned to be reconstructed into 2x3 road, with a status of expressway (at least). The old bridge over the Neris river will be demolished and new one will be built, which will be 8 lanes (2x4) in total. So really massive works waiting for this stretch.
The only problem is, that it will start just around year 2014...