Vilnius boasts Lithuania's first proper bicycle street

It puts attention to the fact that not all streets that have cycling lanes are actually friendly to cyclists

The City of Vilnius announced that it has unveiled its first “real” cycling street – a road that actually makes bicycles equal to, or even more important than cars, while still allowing both types of vehicles to move on it.

The street in question is P. Vileišio Street, in Antakalnis District and features road signs indicating that bicycles and cars have the same importance and right to the road. It consists of two lanes, in each direction, with another cobblestone lane in the middle between them. The central lane has the purpose of drawing the attention of car drivers if they drive too fast on the road and to remind them to keep within the speed limit, which is 30 km/h on this street.

The model of cycling streets to come?

It was decided to reconstruct P. Vileišios Street into a bicycle street after taking into account that this connection is extremely important for cyclists, but the infrastructure of the street was completely unfriendly to them.

On this street cyclists can ride freely and do not have to stick one after the other to the right side of the road – they can ride side by side and cars don’t have the right to overpass them. What’s more, cars don’t have the right to stop or park, except for spots specially designed for this.

Unlike cyclists, however, motorbike riders must ride as close as possible to the right-hand edge of the carriageway, just like on normal streets.

JUDU, the Vilnius Department of Transportation, which is responsible for the infrastructure, is confident that the bicycle street will be the first step towards creating a proper cycling network in the city and in Lithuania, especially in places where installing a cycling lane is not possible.