Attention to the gravel roads of national importance

This year, the State Enterprise Lithuanian Road Administration (hereinafter – the Road Administration) has entered into contracts worth approximately 9 million euros for the repair of almost 100 km of the worst country‘s roads of national significance with a gravel surface. The work has begun this year and will be continued next year. The repair of the roads of national significance with a gravel surface from the ground up has begun in order to improve their condition.

The road repairs are carried out on the roads of national significance with a gravel surface, whose condition is the worst. These are the roads with nearly no layer of gravel left to be profiled, or this layer is very thin and the foundations of gravel are weak. Potholes and bumps more often occur on such roads, and the road surface is often broken by a heavier transport, that travels on such roads. In such cases, the road becomes particularly difficult to travel. This usually occurs during the spring thaw, when the said roads become less solid due to the soaked road constructions. Therefore, to avoid road damage in this time of the year, the traffic of heavy transport must be restricted.

The roads of national significance with a gravel surface, which have not been asphalted, were maintained so far only as part of periodic maintenance and by eliminating only the local damages. This year, the repair of the roads with a gravel surface from the ground up has begun. When the road is repaired from the ground up, the particularly weak sites of the gravel pavement constructions, which are usually broken, are repaired. The wear layers of the gravel base and pavement are also restored along the entire length of the road section, thus reinforcing the road itself, extending the life of the road and improving driving conditions. Public procurement tender procedures for such work are also planned to announced in the coming year.

The roads of national importance, that belong to the Road Administration, are also asphalted according to methodologies for selection of gravel road sections, and given the allocated amount of the funds. All roads of national importance with a gravel surface are ranked according to the methodologies, and the list of the road sections to be asphalted has been drawn up.

According to the data of January 2021, in Lithuania there were around 5.8 thousand kilometres of the roads of national importance with a gravel surface.