official translation
REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW AMENDING THE LAW ON ROADS
11 May 1995 No. I-891
Vilnius
(as amended by 3 October 2002, No. IX-1113)
Article 1. Revised Version of the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Roads
The Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Roads shall be amended and set forth to read as follows:
Article 1. Purpose of the Law
This Law shall establish the legal basis for the development, maintenance and exploitation of roads of the Republic of Lithuania.
Article 2. Definitions of the Law
1. “Bulky vehicle” means a vehicle the dimensions whereof (length, width, and height) laden or unladen exceed the maximum authorised dimensions.
2. “Street” means a road or its section within the territory of an urban or rural residential location, usually having a name.
3. “Road” means an engineering structure designated for the traffic of vehicles and pedestrians. The road shall consist of the earth bank, carriageway, shoulders, central reserve, road ditches, intersections, bus stops, rest areas, pedestrian and bicycle paths, road constructions, technical traffic regulation facilities, vegetation on the road lane, road weather monitoring and transport traffic record-keeping, lighting and other facilities together with the grounds on which the said facilities are erected.
4. “Road protection area” means a lane of land of the fixed width on both sides of the road with restricted economic activities.
7. “Road category” means and indicator determining technical parameters of the road in the general road network (dimensions of the road or its constructions, the number of road lanes, the type of intersection, traffic volumes, etc.).
8. “Road maintenance” means routine road works carried out to ensure traffic safety and prescribed service life of the road and its constructions.
9. “Road reconstruction” means a type of construction designated to reconstruct the existing road or its constructions in essence.
10. “Road owner” means the State, local authorities, legal or natural persons which own the road by the right of ownership.
11. “Road constructions” means everything that results from construction, building, reconstruction, repairing and maintenance operations using construction materials, manufactured articles, goods, products, and is steadily fixed to the ground.
12. “Road repair” – a type of construction designated to partially or completely restore the characteristics of the road and its constructions stipulated by technical regulations for construction, which have deteriorated because of the exploitation of the construction, or to improve them.
13. “Road construction” means the construction of a new route of a new road or its section, construction of the bypass with all road infrastructure in urban and rural residential locations, the construction of a bridge, a viaduct or another construction works, as well as the reconstruction of a former construction works.
14. “Lithuanian Road Administration at the Ministry of Transport and Communications” means an institution established by the Government which organises and co-ordinates the rehabilitation, maintenance and development of roads of national significance.
16. “Heavy vehicles” means vehicles the axle(s) load and (or) total laden or unladen weight of which exceed the maximum authorised dimensions.
Article 3. Classification of Roads According to Their Significance
1. According to the traffic flow conditions, their social and economic significance, roads shall be divided into roads of national and local significance.
2. Roads of national significance used by international, transit, tourist and intensive local traffic shall be divided into:
1) main roads. These shall be the main Lithuanian roads or their extensions: carriageways of streets with the highest traffic volumes. The main roads shall comprise all roads of national significance included in the European international road network;
2) national roads. They shall comprise part of the main road network. These shall be roads and their extensions: carriageways of the streets with high traffic volumes connecting the centres of territorial administrative units of the Republic of Lithuania, as well as transit and tourist traffic;
3. Roads of local significance shall be used for local communication and shall be divided into:
1) public roads. These shall be the roads connecting regional roads, residential locations, dumps, recreation objects, frequently visited natural and cultural monuments, as well as streets in the residential locations, and other roads not assigned to the category of roads of national significance;
2) private roads. These shall be the roads which are used to meet the needs of legal and (or) natural persons (roads in forests, national parks, areas protected by the State, border, quarries, access roads to hydrotechnical facilities, restricted territories: roads of yards, as well as all other roads not assigned to the category of public roads).
Article 4. Classification of Roads According to the Form of Ownership
1. Roads shall belong to the State, local authorities, legal or natural persons by the right of ownership.
2. Roads of national significance shall belong to the State by the exclusive right of ownership. They shall, in accordance with the procedure established by laws and other legal acts, be managed, exploited and disposed in trust by State-owned enterprises established by the Ministry of Transport and Communications or the Lithuanian Road Administration at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, authorised by the said Ministry.
3. Public roads of local significance and streets shall, by the right of ownership, belong to local authorities, and private roads shall belong to the State, local authorities, other legal and (or) natural persons.
4. If, on the recommendations of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the road is struck from the list of roads of national significance (when a new road is constructed, bypasses of urban or other residential locations are constructed, social-economic significance of the road changes, traffic volumes decrease, road sections after straightening the road remain), it becomes the road of local significance with all constructions and facilities thereof. If municipal councils consent, the road shall be transferred into the ownership of local authorities in accordance with the procedure established by legal acts, and shall be included in an appropriate list of roads of local significance. When the road is struck from the list of roads of local significance (when the social economic significance of the road changes, traffic volumes increase and when the need arises to reconstruct it into the road of higher category), such road shall, after consultation with the Ministry of Transport and Communications, be included in the list of roads of national significance and transferred to legal persons referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article.
5. Some structures or facilities of roads of national significance (including road construction and maintenance production bases or production service buildings), having become unnecessary for legal persons referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, may, in accordance with the procedure established by laws and other legal acts, be transferred into the ownership of a local authority with the consent of the municipal council.
Article 5. Road Development Policy, Strategy and Implementation thereof
1. The national policy trends of road maintenance and development shall be set by the Seimas by passing laws.
2. The policy of road maintenance and development shall be implemented and programmes relating to the roads of national significance shall be drawn up by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
3. The Lithuanian Road Administration at the Ministry of Transport and Communications shall:
1) with authorisation of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, carry out the functions of the founder of state enterprises maintaining roads of national significance;
2) assign mandatory road maintenance works (tasks) to the State enterprises maintaining roads of national significance;
3) carry out the functions of the client of designing, constructing, building, reconstructing, repairing and maintenance of roads of national significance;
4) carry out the functions of organising the designing, constructing, building, reconstructing, repairing and maintaining of roads of national significance;
4. The client’s functions of designing, constructing, building, reconstructing, repairing and maintaining of roads of local significance shall be carried out by their owners and (or) managers.
5. Road designing, constructing, building, reconstructing and repairing works shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure established by the Law on Public Procurement and other legal acts. Roads may be constructed or reconstructed on a concessionary basis.
6. Designing, constructing, reconstructing, repairing and maintaining of streets which are not the extension of roads of national significance shall be organised and the functions of the client shall be carried out by local authorities. The procedure for designing, constructing, reconstructing, repairing and maintaining the streets which are the extension of roads of national significance shall be established by the Government.
Article 6. Road Name and Numbering
2. Roads shall be named after the names of residential locations or objects where they start or finish. If necessary, the name of the road may include the names of intermediate residential locations or other objects.
3. The list of roads of national significance shall be approved by the Government on the advice of the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
5. Lists of streets, which are the extension of the European international road network, of the cities which have no bypasses shall, with the consent of municipal councils, be approved by the Government on the advice of the Ministry of Internal Affairs after consultation with the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The routes of such streets (existing, under construction and planned to be constructed) must be provided for in relevant territorial planning documentation. When carrying out the land reform on these territories, the priority shall be given to the needs of urban public transportation system development. The issues related to the restitution of citizens’ rights to ownership of land shall be solved in accordance with the procedure established by legal acts.
Article 7. Road Data Banks
The Lithuanian Road Administration at the Ministry of Transport and Communications shall collect, compile an inventory of, manage and store data on the roads of national significance; whereas local authorities shall collect, compile an inventory of, manage and store data on the roads of local significance. They shall approve the regulations of road data banks on the objects of data, management, storage, etc., dispose of these data banks, and provide free of charge the necessary data for State cadastres, registers, classifiers and data banks, as well as be entitled to free of charge obtain from them the necessary information on roads.
Article 8. Basic Requirements
1. Roads shall be designed on the basis of the approved documentation of territorial planning and regulations of Lithuanian road designing. Expert examinations of road construction, building, reconstruction, and repairing designs shall be carried out in accordance with the procedure established by the Government.
2. Roads shall be designed, constructed, built, reconstructed, repaired and maintained in compliance with laws, other legal acts, as well as normative technical construction documents. State supervision of the special construction requirements for works being carried out shall be performed in accordance with the procedure established by the Government.
Article 9. Identification of Road Categories
Road categories shall be identified with reference to the traffic flow condition and the location of roads with reference to residential locations, as well as on the basis of the regulations pertaining to the designing of Lithuanian roads, approved by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The categories of roads of national significance shall be identified by the Lithuanian Road Administration at the Ministry of Transport and Communications. The categories of public roads of local significance shall be identified by local authorities, and private roads shall be identified by legal or natural persons who own such roads by the right of ownership.
Article 10. Exploitation of Land for the Needs of Roads
The land shall be transferred for constructing roads, building construction works, as well as setting up quarries of building materials and ground in accordance with the procedure established by the Law on Land and other legal acts.
Article 11. Road Lane
1. The minimum width of a lane of roads of national significance according to the road categories shall be as follows:
2. The minimum width of a lane of roads of local significance shall be:
Article 12. Road Protection Area
1. In order to provide safe traffic conditions, the road protection area shall be established on both sides of the road edges. According to the category of the road, its width shall be as follows:
Article 13. Carrying-out of Works on Roads and Their Protection Areas
1. Carrying-out of various works on roads, road lanes and their protection areas shall be prohibited without permission of the road owner. Technical traffic regulation systems shall be installed after consultation with the police.
2. It shall be permitted to build construction works or to set up equipment on the road protection areas in compliance with the Law on Construction, taking into account the prospects of the road development and traffic safety requirements, according to the procedure established in the normative technical construction documents and co-ordinated designs. In autumn, winter and spring, it shall be permitted to set up temporary snow protection equipment on road protection zones.
3. It shall be prohibited to build on road protection zones dwelling houses and public buildings which are not related to the provision of services for the transport and passengers. It shall be prohibited to display external advertisements on roads and their protection zones, as well as on streets and near them, if they can obstruct technical traffic regulation facilities, road signs, reduce visibility, blind road users, distract their attention thereby causing danger to road users; it shall also be prohibited to use advertisements which imitate road signs. If an external advertisement is displayed by violating the said requirements, it must be removed, demolished or dismantled in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Construction and other legal acts. It shall be prohibited to build monumental accents-symbols, to make quarries and water bodies, to store materials on the road protection areas without a permit of the road and land owner.
Article 14. Acceptance of Roads as Fit for Exploitation
Constructed, reconstructed, and repaired roads shall be accepted as fit for exploitation in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law on Construction.
Article 15. Road Maintenance
The procedure of road maintenance shall be established by the Government.
Article 16. Road Funding
Designing, construction, reconstruction, repair, and maintenance of roads and construction works shall be financed in accordance with the procedure established by law.
Article 17. The Right to Use Roads
1. All legal and natural persons shall have the right to use roads and their infrastructure in compliance with the Civil Code, this Law and other legal acts.
2. The right to use roads owned by legal and (or) natural persons by the right of ownership shall be regulated by the Civil Code.
3. The roads and their infrastructure may be used only by vehicles complying with the maximum permitted road vehicle characteristics (dimensions, weight, axle load, etc.) approved by the Ministry of Transport and Communications. If these characteristics exceed the maximum permitted characteristics, such vehicles may use roads in accordance with the procedure specified in Article 20 of this Law.
Article 18. Traffic Restriction
1. The road owner may, in accordance with the procedure established by the Government, temporarily restrict, cancel traffic or close the road because of accidents, calamities, floods, extremely hot weather, when the road may be damaged due to this, or during the carrying-out of road construction, repair or maintenance works, in the event of danger to traffic safety.
2. Upon having warned the road owner, police officers shall have the right to change, restrict and cancel traffic on roads when this is necessary for the ensuring of traffic safety or improvement of traffic conditions.
Article 19. Traffic Safety and Supervision thereof
1. Requirements for traffic safety on roads shall be regulated by the Law on Traffic Safety on Roads, as well as other legal acts.
Article 20. Use of Roads of National and Local Significance and Their Infrastructure by Bulky and (or) Heavy Vehicles
Bulky and (or) heavy vehicles may use public roads of national and local significance and their infrastructure only upon co-ordination with the road owner and upon receipt of a permit. Permits to use roads of national significance for the said vehicles shall be issued in accordance with the procedure established by the Ministry of Transport and Communications; whereas permits to use public roads of local significance shall be issued in accordance with the procedure established by local authorities, upon payment of a fee, fixed by law, for the use of roads and their infrastructure by bulky and (or) heavy vehicles. The amount of the fee for using private roads of local significance may be fixed by mutual agreement between the parties (the road owner and the road user).
Article 21. Rights of Persons Responsible for Road Maintenance
Persons responsible for road maintenance shall have the right:
1) together with the police, to stop vehicles the owners or managers of which violate the requirements of this Law or other legal acts regulating road maintenance and to prohibit to continue travelling;
2) together with an institution authorised by the Government, to check if the maximum permitted characteristics of vehicles (dimensions, weight, axle loads, etc.) are not exceeded;
3) together with the police, to remove vehicles or freights abandoned on the road, which hinder traffic safety, at the expense of their owners or managers;
4) in accordance with the procedure established by the Government or an institution authorised by it, to remove trees or bushes on the road lane, an external advertisement, which has been displayed without permission and which is dangerous to traffic safety;
5) in accordance with the procedure established by laws and other legal acts, to remove objects, referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 13 of this Law, which have been built without authorisation, as well as to remove the intersections, exit roads, technical traffic regulation facilities, etc. which have been set up without authorisation on the road or road lane at the expense of the persons who have set them up, if they do not do it themselves upon receipt of the notice in writing.
Article 22. Responsibilities
Persons who have violated the requirements of this Law shall be held liable in accordance with the procedure established by law.
Article 23. International Agreements
Where international agreements to which the Republic of Lithuania is a party provide for the rules other than those provided for in this Law, the rules of international agreements shall apply.
Article 24. Proposal to the Government
The Government shall, within three months after the coming into force of this Law, review the effective legal acts related to the implementation of the provisions of this Law and, if necessary, amend them or prepare necessary drafts and submit them to the Seimas.
I promulgate this Law passed by the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania.