Transport in Lithuania

Transport in Lithuania relies mainly on road and rail networks.

Lithuanian road system

total: <br>paved: <br>unpaved:

Highways

Controlled-access highways sections

There are two categories of controlled-access highways in Lithuania: expressways (Lithuanian: greitkeliai) with maximum speed 120&nbsp;km/h and motorways (Lithuanian: automagistralės) with maximum speed 130&nbsp;km/h.

Motorway sections

• A1 Kaunas – Klaipėda. Total length of the stretch: 195&nbsp;km. The motorway ends for a short section near Sujainiai (Raseiniai district municipality) as the junction here is one-level and it is used by non-motorway vehicles.
• A2 Vilnius – Panevėžys. Total length of the stretch: 114&nbsp;km.
• A5 Kaunas – Marijampolė. Total length of the stretch: 57&nbsp;km.
• A1 Kaunas – Vilnius. There length of the stretch: 55&nbsp;km (Kaunas – Vievis) and 16&nbsp;km (Vievis – GrigiÅ¡kės).

Expressway sections

• A9 RadviliÅ¡kis – Å iauliai. Total length of the stretch: 10&nbsp;km.

A road system

The A roads (Lithuanian: magistraliniai keliai) total .

• A1 Vilnius – Kaunas – Klaipėda, . Most important east to west corridor in Lithuania. Connects three largest Lithuanian cities: Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda. Most of the road has motorway status.
• A2 Vilnius – Panevėžys, . The stretch between Vilnius and Å ilagalis has motorway status.
• A3 Vilnius – Medininkai Border Checkpoint, . Continues to Belarus and connects Vilnius with the Belarusian capital of Minsk.
• A4 Vilnius – Raigardas Border Checkpoint, . Continues to Grodno, Belarus.
• A5 Kaunas – border with Poland, . The stretch from Kaunas to Marijampolė has motorway status. Continues towards Suwałki in Poland.
• A6 Kaunas – Daugavpils, . Continues towards Daugavpils in Latvia.
• A7 Marijampolė – Kybartai Border Checkpoint, . An important transit route to Kaliningrad Oblast.
• A8 SitkÅ«nai – Panevėžys, .
• A9 Panevėžys – Å iauliai, . Short 10&nbsp;km expressway section.
• A10 Panevėžys – Bauska . Continues to Bauska in Latvia. Important transit route to Riga.
• A11 Å iauliai – Palanga,
• A12 border with Latvia – Panemunė Border Checkpoint,
• A13 Klaipėda – Liepaja,
• A14 Vilnius – Utena,
• A15 Vilnius – Lida,
• A16 Vilnius – Marijampolė,
• A17 Panevėžys Bypass, .
• A18 Å iauliai Bypass,
• A19 Vilnius Southern Bypass,
• A20 Ukmergė Northern Bypass,
• A21 Panemunė Eastern Bypass, 4 km (2.5 mi)

Major highway projects in Interwar Lithuania

Before World War I, there were few isolated routes suitable for transit traffic e.g. present day A12 highway, connecting Riga with Kaliningrad, or present day A6 highway which was part of highway Warsaw–Saint Petersburg that ran through Kaunas. After Lithuania became an independent country in 1918, there was increased demand for new highways for inner needs. First long-distance highways built exclusively by the Lithuanian government were opened in the late 1930s. These are following:

• Samogitian highway – old highway built in the 1930s, connecting Kaunas and Klaipėda. Road section between Kaunas and Ariogala is now completely refurbished to motorway, and the road section from Ariogala to Klaipėda is serving as alternative road for a parallelly-built A1 motorway and connects local towns such as Ariogala, Raseiniai and Rietavas.
• AukÅ¡taitian highway – old highway built in the 1930s. It connects Kaunas, Kėdainiai, Panevėžys and Biržai to Riga. After building an original route, new routes were built through the course of Soviet Union and after its dissolution. The road was gradually rerouted to avoid larger urban areas, and now runs from SitkÅ«nai, bypasses Kėdainiai, Panevėžys, Pasvalys, Biržai, and reaches Latvian border to Riga. Rerouted highway is now part of Via Baltica.

Museum

• Lithuanian Road Museum

Railways

There is a total of 1,998 route km of railways, of which:

• 1,807&nbsp;km are broad gauge of &ndash; 122&nbsp;km of which are electrified
• 169&nbsp;km are narrow gauge of &ndash; as of 2001
• 22&nbsp;km are standard gauge of

Rail links with adjacent countries

• Latvia – yes
• Belarus – yes
• Russia (Kaliningrad) – yes
• Poland – yes – break-of-gauge /

Waterways

There are that are perennially navigable.

Pipelines

In 1992, there were of crude oil pipelines, and of natural gas pipelines.

Ports and harbours

Sea ports

• Port of Klaipėda
• BÅ«tingė oil terminal

River ports

• Kaunas
• RumÅ¡iÅ¡kės
• Nida
• Juodkrantė

Merchant marine

The merchant marine consists of 47 ships of 1,000 GT or over, together totaling 279,743 GT/.

Ships by type: Cargo 25, Combination bulk 8, Petroleum tanker 2, Railcar carrier 1, Refrigerated cargo 6, Roll on/roll off 2, Short-sea passenger 3.

Note: These totals include some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Denmark 13 (2002 est.)

Airports

In Lithuania, there are four international airports:

• Vilnius Čiurlionis International Airport
• Kaunas Airport
• Palanga International Airport
• Å iauliai International Airport
• Paved Runways: 9 in total
• over 3,047 m: 2
• 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
• under 914 m: 3
• Unpaved runways: 63 in total
• 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
• 914 to 1,523 m: 5
• under 914 m: 55

See also

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External links

• The public transport guide