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Only for a short time, during the peak of the first quarantine, in April of last year the production of bicycles was suspended; According to data from the Department of Statistics, 6.6 thousand of them were produced in Lithuania.
But already in summer, the production of bicycles in our country began to return to normal. In June of last year, 14.5 thousand of them were produced, and in May of this year, almost 26 thousand.
However, the municipalities dealt with the bike lanes not so fast. Last year, riders were able to test 58.8 km of new trails, or just 8 km more than they had built the year before.
According to the Department of Statistics, most of the bike paths extend in Kaunas County: 330 km. It is true that its length did not change in Kaunas last year, and new ones appeared in Birštonas, as well as in the Kaunas and Raseiniai districts.
Although the capital presents itself as a cyclist-friendly city, the number of cycle lanes in the entire Vilnius county in 2020 at the end of 2019 was 218.5 km, or only 12 km more than in 2019 at the end.
Length of bike lanes
© Photo of Lithuania Statistics
Vilnius City Council in 2013 was blessed with a program to develop cycling infrastructure. It foresees for 2020. to double the network of cycle lanes from 126 to 238 km.
But at the end of last year, there were 164 km of cycle paths in Vilnius, 12 km more than the previous year. Last summer, outdoor bars and cafes sprouted up on some bike lanes in central Vilnius. But this year, the authorities of the capital announce plans for 3 million. EUR 14 km of new bike and pedestrian paths.
The Minister of Transport and Communications, Marius Skuodis, shared the Lithuanian Highway Administration’s plans to start the renovation of the Smiltynė-Nida cycle path, which will last almost 35 km, next year.
It also hinted at even more ambitious ambitions in the future for a high-quality bike route to connect Nida and the border with Latvia.
According to data from the Department of Statistics, last year 5 km of new bike paths were built on the country’s coast (Klaipėda). After 5 km, new trails also appeared in Marijampolė and Biržai districts, Radviliškis district – 4 km, Kaunas district – 3.7 km and Panevėžys – 3 km.
Last year, the cycle lane network was extended to 1 km in the districts of Šalčininkai, Alytus, Raseiniai, Rokiškis, Jurbarkas, Visaginas and Zarasai.
By the way, in the Kretinga district, the cycle lane network has expanded by only 100 meters per year, and this is not the worst news for cyclists. The trails for them in some districts or cities were even shortened last year.
This was the case in Skuodas, where the length of the cycle lanes decreased by 600 m, as well as in the Panevėžys district, where only 8.2 km of cycle lanes were extended at the end of the previous 9.4 km. However, in the popular town of Druskininkai, the bike lanes have been shortened especially to 4.2 km.
Ministry of Transport and Communications until 2024 The number of bicycle lanes promises to increase by 20%, but M. Skuodis points out that it is not yet known exactly which roads belong to the state and which to municipalities. As a result, your inventory is planned.
According to the Minister of Transport and Communications, now often one municipality has a section of bike lanes, another, another, they have no connection and it is inconvenient for cyclists to travel longer distances.
The cyclists themselves are not satisfied with the quality of the trails.
“There are no roads to ride safely. They are installed anyway, as it is often just an imitation of roads,” says Paulius Bakutis, director of the Lithuanian Cycling Association.
Eglė Vankevičė from Vilnius, who often mentions cycling to work, has no major reproaches on the Vilnius cycle paths, but warns that when traveling, for example, from Santariškės to the center near the municipality, the path disappears and you have to go ahead. a perforated sidewalk.
A Vilnius citizen also lacks a bike path between Vilnius and Kaunas.
“It would be fun to go a longer route with the family. It is now practically impossible to travel from one city to another by bicycle, “laments E. Vankevičė.
Furthermore, cycling enthusiasts lack other measures that encourage people to switch from cars to bicycles; building trails is not enough.
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