Today, 29 June, the government approved the informative report prepared by the Ministry of Transport on the development strategy for Latvia’s national roads up to 2040. The first steps towards implementing this strategy have already been taken, as work has begun to rebuild the Riga bypass into a four-lane motorway.
The aim of the development strategy for Latvia’s national roads from 2020 to 2040 is to create an integrated, safe and efficient network of national main roads that will ensure access to the Riga bypass from any administrative centre in Latvia within no more than two hours. The national main roads are to be reconstructed as motorways, with more than 1,000 km of motorways to be built by 2040 with a maximum speed limit of 130 kilometres per hour.
“The long-term national road development strategy for the next 20 years has been discussed with local governments and the Saeima committees and approved by the Road Council. It is a vision for putting the national main roads in order to ensure better connectivity between the centres of Latvia’s municipalities, reduce the number of road traffic accidents, since a large proportion of accidents occur during overtaking manoeuvres, and promote environmental protection by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Long-term planning is necessary to anticipate road development in a timely manner and substantiate the attraction of funding from European funds, as well as to develop public-private partnership projects,” said Minister for Transport Tālis Linkaits.
“The long-term road development strategy includes an action plan for reconstructing the national main roads. The development of the regional road network is also important to us, and a plan has been drawn up for it up to 2027. We will gradually discuss it with experts and representatives of local governments and the public in order to jointly agree on work priorities and accordingly plan state funding for the renewal of regional roads,” the minister said.
The implementation of Latvia’s national road development strategy has begun with the initial work to reconstruct the Riga bypass into a modern motorway. “This will not only save motorists time, but will also divert traffic around Riga and improve road safety,” Tālis Linkaits explained.
At present, the state-owned joint-stock company “Latvijas Valsts ceļi” (LVC) has initiated the environmental impact assessment procedure for two sections involved in reconstructing the Riga bypass into a motorway—the national main road A5 Riga bypass (Salaspils—Babīte) and the national main road A4 Riga bypass (Baltezers—Saulkalne).
As part of the Riga bypass study project, it is planned to clarify the route alignment, the configuration of road junctions and the arrangement of parallel roads. Grade-separated junctions with all major roads and physically separated traffic lanes are planned for the Riga bypass. The cost of reconstructing the Riga bypass, including the combined road and railway bridge over the Daugava, is approximately 540 million euros, and the project is scheduled to be completed by 2030.
The environmental impact assessment for reconstructing the road sections and the subsequent preparation of the detailed design take approximately two years. The acquisition of land takes two to three years and begins once the construction proposal has been approved.
At the same time, LVC has begun a feasibility study for the construction of a new road along the Rail Baltica railway line, on the section from the national main road A2 Riga–Sigulda–Estonian border (Veclaicene), near Vangaži, to approximately Skulte, where the proposed road would connect to the national main road A1 Riga (Baltezers)–Estonian border (Ainaži). The construction of such a road would make it possible to divert transit traffic away from the densely populated areas of Baltezers and Ādaži.
Author:
Communications Division
Ministry of Transport
sam.gov.lv
