Existing Situation
Kaunas District Municipality is located in the central part of Lithuania and forms a ring around the city of Kaunas. The municipality borders the districts of Kėdainiai, Raseiniai, Jonava, Kaišiadorys, Prienai, Šakiai, Jurbarkas, Kazlų Rūda, as well as Kaunas City Municipality. The municipality consists of 25 elderships.
Several protected areas have been established within the territory of Kaunas District Municipality, including the Kaunas Lagoon Regional Park, Panemunė Regional Park, the valleys of the Nevėžis and Dubysa rivers, the Žiegždriai and Stavidvaris outcrops, as well as nature reserves, reserve zones, hydrographic, hydrogeological, botanical, geological and geomorphological natural heritage sites, a biosphere polygon, and Natura 2000 territories.
The special plan drawings mark social, cultural, healthcare and educational institutions as well as tourist and recreational attractions. These include:
- libraries, museums and cultural centers;
- social care homes and day centers;
- sports centers;
- hospitals, primary healthcare centers and pharmacies;
- schools, kindergartens, art schools, adult education schools and vocational training centers;
- religious sites such as churches and chapels;
- swimming areas, beaches and recreational zones.
Planning Solutions
The detailed solutions of the special plan for the local road network in Kaunas District Municipality were prepared in response to the social and transport trends identified during the assessment of the existing situation, as well as to address problem areas within the municipality. The solutions further develop Alternative II, approved on 28 December 2023 by Order No. ĮS-3312 of the Director of the Kaunas District Municipality Administration. During the preparation of the detailed solutions, the decisions of existing and planned territorial planning documents and the issued planning conditions were also taken into account.
The transport system is designed to meet the mobility needs of residents. Therefore, its functioning and development are directly linked to the number of residents and visitors, population change trends, the distribution of workplaces, and social infrastructure or other attraction points.
The analysis of the existing situation revealed that the population of Kaunas District is increasing, but the distribution of residents across the municipality is highly uneven. The fastest population growth has occurred in the suburban areas surrounding Kaunas, while the population in the outer parts of the municipality has decreased. Approximately 80% of the municipality’s population lives in the suburban zone.
Demographic trends are important for the development of engineering infrastructure, including transport networks. In areas with a small and declining population, the relative operating costs per resident are significantly higher than in areas with higher population density. In the future, this imbalance is expected to increase.
These trends were considered when developing the detailed planning solutions. Road and street network development is planned to be more intensive in areas with higher concentrations of residents and workplaces—primarily in suburban zones—while development in the outer parts of the municipality will be more limited.
The expansion of the street network in suburban areas aims to redistribute traffic flows, serve newly developing territories, and improve local traffic conditions. However, Kaunas will remain the primary attraction center, continuing to generate commuter flows and peak traffic periods in the morning and evening. This situation is also influenced by natural barriers such as rivers and water bodies, as well as the limited number of bridges.
For this reason, the special plan proposes a main road and street network capable of supporting the expansion of public transport routes and creating favorable conditions for the development of multimodal transport hubs and mobility consolidation points, thus providing an alternative to private car use.