Via Lietuva

Via Lietuva (until 2024 known as Lietuvos automobilių kelių direkcija, LAKD) is the Lithuanian state-owned joint-stock company responsible for the management of roads of national significance. It operates under the Ministry of Transport and Communications and holds the state's road assets in trust (patikėjimo teisė), maintaining, developing and modernising the national road network, organising safe traffic conditions and coordinating the implementation of road-safety measures. The company's remit covers the strategic road network, including motorways such as the A1 Vilnius–Kaunas–Klaipėda corridor and the Via Baltica transport corridor, as well as the associated bridges, viaducts and roadside infrastructure. Its activities include road infrastructure maintenance, traffic organisation, road-use permits, protection zones, road tolls and the electronic road tolling system Via Toll, ferry ticket compensation, the Kelių projektai information system, registration of electric-vehicle charging points, and road asset management information systems. Via Lietuva also runs a substantial project portfolio: strategic infrastructure projects, co-financed projects, partnership projects and motorway maintenance works, including the reconstruction of the A14 Vilnius–Utena motorway and the Gariūnai viaduct, and the deployment of continuous 5G connectivity along the Via Baltica transport corridor. It publishes company documents, reports, remuneration data, financing information, sustainability material, information on the Kelių fondas (Road Fund), innovation and international cooperation, and public procurement information. The organisation traces its institutional lineage to 1918, when the Board of Highways, Waterways and Ports was established in the newly independent Lithuanian state. After the Soviet period and the restoration of independence, the Lithuanian Road Administration (LAKD) was founded in 1991. It was reformed into a state institution under the Ministry of Transport and Communications in 1993, converted into a state enterprise in 2020, transformed into a joint-stock company in 2023, and renamed Via Lietuva in March 2024. Today it is the central public body for Lithuania's state road infrastructure, combining regulatory, asset-management and project-delivery functions.

The institutional history of Via Lietuva begins in the interwar period of the first Lithuanian Republic. On 6 December 1918, the Board of Highways, Waterways and Ports (Plentų, vandens kelių ir uostų valdyba) was established as the predecessor of the later road administration. On 6 September 1919, President Antanas Smetona signed the first provisional law on more important highways and dirt roads. It was envisaged that the board would supervise not only highways but all public roads, but the state lacked the funds to do so. On 2 March 1921, a new law on roads and bridges for general use was adopted, together with service rules for officials supervising highways. In 1924 the body was reorganised into the Board of Highways and Waterways (Plentų ir vandens kelių valdyba), and in 1936 it became simply the Road Board (Kelių valdyba), within which three directorates were formed: warehouses, waterways and traffic. During the Soviet period, on 17 July 1944, the Highways Board (Plentų valdyba) was established under the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs of the Lithuanian SSR (from 1946 a ministry), and it operated until 1956. In 1949–1952, asphalting works were carried out on the Vilnius–Kaunas road. As the Vilnius–Kaunas road was being completed, designs for two 24-km sections of the Kaunas–Klaipėda motorway had already been prepared. On 4 September 1987, the A1 motorway was officially opened. In 1988, the Main Production Road Administration and the Road Construction Trust were abolished, and on their basis the production association Keliai was founded. After the restoration of independence, in 1990 the production association Keliai was replaced by the established Road Department, soon reorganised into the company Lietuvos keliai. On 1 March 1991, by order of the Minister of Transport Jonas Biržiškis, the Lithuanian Road Administration (Lietuvos automobilių kelių direkcija, LAKD) was established. On 14 March 1991 it was registered with the Ministry of Economics. On 12 March 1993, by order of Prime Minister B. Lubys, LAKD was reformed into a state institution under the Ministry of Transport and Communications. On 1 September 2020, LAKD was transformed from a budgetary institution into a state enterprise, with the new legal form registered at the Centre of Registers. On 2 January 2023 it became a joint-stock company. On 5 March 2024 the company changed its name to Via Lietuva. Today Via Lietuva manages roads of national significance in Lithuania under trust law, organises safe traffic conditions and coordinates the implementation of road-safety measures. Its work spans the maintenance and modernisation of the strategic road network, the development of motorways and the Via Baltica corridor, electronic tolling, road asset management systems, and a broad portfolio of strategic, co-financed and partnership infrastructure projects.

• 2024

  Company renamed Via Lietuva on 5 March.

• 2023

  Became a joint-stock company on 2 January.

• 2020

  LAKD transformed from a budgetary institution into a state enterprise on 1 September.

• 1993

  LAKD reformed into a state institution under the Ministry of Transport and Communications on 12 March.

• 1991

  Lithuanian Road Administration (LAKD) established on 1 March and registered on 14 March.

• 1990

  Road Department established, soon reorganised into the company Lietuvos keliai.

• 1988

  Main Production Road Administration and Road Construction Trust abolished; production association Keliai founded.

• 1987

  A1 motorway officially opened on 4 September.

• 1949

  Asphalting works on the Vilnius–Kaunas road begin (1949–1952).

• 1944

  Highways Board established under the Lithuanian SSR internal affairs commissariat on 17 July.

• 1936

  Reorganised into the Road Board with three directorates.

• 1924

  Reorganised into the Board of Highways and Waterways.

• 1921

  New law on roads and bridges for general use adopted on 2 March.

• 1919

  President Antanas Smetona signs the first provisional law on highways and dirt roads on 6 September.

• 1918

  Board of Highways, Waterways and Ports established on 6 December, predecessor of the road administration.

Lithuania's central state road authority and infrastructure manager, responsible for the national road network and road safety.

• Via Toll electronic road tolling system

• Kelių projektai information system

• Road asset management information system

• Road-use permits and traffic restriction permits

• Electric-vehicle charging point registration

• Ferry ticket compensation

1. 1Pradžia - ViaLietuva.ltvialietuva.lt
2. 2Via Lietuva - Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Via Lietuva - Wikipedia (Lithuanian)lt.wikipedia.org