From the 23rd to the 25th of May, Connestion Services, project partner from Vilnius, hosted a technical study tour based on
- bicycle network planning,
- intersection design
- cycling-walking facilities for people with special needs.
During the first day, Lennart Nout, a “plangineer”, widely explained some design details of protected intersections, with particular attention to bicycle roundabouts, turbo roundabouts and roundabouts intersection hybrids. We also had the chance to put in practice our new knowledge trying to design our own intersection or roundabout. Furthermore, Mr Nout acknowledged us also about the most important aspects of network planning through a simple and interactive technique.
The second day, we had the chance to discover the pedestrian challenges of Vilnius resident’s everyday commuting to their workplaces/schools/etc. Divided in two groups, we walked on different routes guided by Dr.Kristina Gaučė, SUMP expert and Rūta Skripkienė, Vilnius SUMP team member.
During the afternoon, Anton Nikitin, from Connection Services, and Justas Ingelevičius, a member of the Lithuanian Cyclist Community, guided us on a tour to experience the bicycle commuting quality in Vilnius and to observe the recent improvements carried implemented by the Municipality.
During the last day, thanks to the help of dr. Kristina Gaučė, SUMP expert, and Ramunė Šidlauskaite, a member of the Lithuanian Association of People with Disabilities, we tried to evaluate the state of Vilnius pedestrian routes considering people with special needs.