Baltic States – CIS, Construction, Lithuania, Transport

Photo: vilnius.lt

Last week, a contract was signed and today the construction of the last stage of the western bypass in Vilnius began. During the project’s opening ceremony, the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Algirdas Butkevicius, expressed his joy that an important project, not only for Vilnius but for the whole country, has commenced.

The Minister of Transport and Communication, Rimantas Sinkevicius, pointed out that once the project is completed, traffic conditions in the capital will improve.

R. Sinkevicius, the Minister of Transport and Communication, says, “The Western bypass of Vilnius is an important addition to the Minskas – Vilnius – Ryga – Talinas route. The completion of this construction will clearly benefit the international and transit traffic conditions, and there will be a reduction of pollution and traffic congestion in the capital.”

The Mayor of Vilnius, Remigijus Simasius, reminded that this stage of construction is probably the largest one yet.

As R. Simasius, the Mayor of Vilnius says, “The third stage of the Western bypass is the hardest and the most accountable. The build road will be longer than five kilometres. It will have six viaducts and one pedestrian bridge. These plans are more extensive than the previous two stages of the bypass construction. The people of Vilnius have been waiting for this project for a long time, with which the communication, especially between the city and the surrounding neighbourhoods, will improve.”

According to the contract, the third stage of the Vilnius bypass has to be completed in twenty months. When the contractors for the project where announced in March, they were happy with this time span because the bypass will be completed in two summers and in a single winter. Originally, the bypass was supposed to be completed in 2016. However, Latvijas Tilti and Kauno Keliai delayed the completion of the project by approximately three and a half months. Nonetheless, the largest Transport Infrastructure Company in Lithuania and in the Baltics, Kauno Tiltai, together with their partners, are determined to finish constructions as soon as possible, allowing drivers to use certain sections of the road next year.

As the CEO, Aldas Rusevicius, of Kauno Tiltai explains, “We understand that the Western bypass is very important to the people of Vilnius and to those visiting it. Each of us is a part of daily traffic and we understand the essentiality of a convenient and qualitative traffic system. This is especially important in a city like Vilnius, where there are more than half a million inhabitants. Thus, starting today, together with partners, we will begin working and gain back the time we lost. In the name of Kauno Tiltai and our partners, we promise that we will put all of our efforts to see the first cars driving on the third section of the Vilnius bypass by the end of 2016”.

According to A. Rusevicius, first step of the project is to prepare the ground, during which more than a million cubic meters of soil will be dug out. After a month, the construction of Pavilionis and Riga viaducts will begin, alongside with construction of supporting walls to the Šiaurinės street viaduct.

These first jobs for the last stage of the bypass will be completed by nearly 150 workers. The heavy machinery includes 10 bulldozers, 20 excavators, and 150 dumpers.

The last section of the bypass, where the road will start from Viršuliškiai (Ozo st.) to the highway A2 Vilnius – Panevėžys (Ukmergės st.) will be 5,4 kilometres long. Six viaducts and one pedestrian bridge will be built, 1260 light posts installed, and around 29,36 km of electrical cables built.

Kauno Tiltai will be building the longest section of the Vilnius bypass with Fegda, Lemminkainen Lietuva, Eurovia Lietuva, Tiltsta, and Axis Power.

It is calculated, that the costs for the last part of the Vilnius bypass will be around 89,692 million euros; from which 84,776 million euros will be from European Union funds, and the rest from the municipality.

The construction of the Western bypass of Vilnius began in 2009. It stretches from Lazdynai, Karoliniškės, Pilaitės neighbourhoods towards Ukmergės road. During the first stage of construction, Vilnius Lazdynai Bridge was reconstructed, a three-way intersection was built, a transport tunnel, as well as the bypass from Oslo st. to L.Asanavičiūtės st. The second stage included an extension from L.Asanavičiūtės st. to Ozo st. So far, the second stage of the bypass construction is considered to be the most successful infrastructure project. When comparing the car load on this bypass, its effectiveness surpasses Vilnius – Kaunas highway, which has around 26 thousand cars per day, while the Western bypass has 56 thousand.