The annual road sector conference will be held On April 22 and 23, in Jurmala. It will be attended by managers and leading specialists of road administrations of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland, as well as representatives of the sector and municipalities, officials of state institutions and experts in various fields of the road sector: traffic safety, road maintenance and construction, and other Latvian and foreign specialists.

The conference will be held in a hybrid format, and its livestream in English will be available on the Facebook account of “Latvian State Roads” and the company website www.lvceli.lv.

The first day of the conference, April 22, will traditionally be dedicated to traffic safety and road network development. At 10:00 it will be opened by Atis Švinka, Minister of Transport, and Mārtiņš Lazdovskis, Chairman of the Board of State Limited Liability Company “Latvian State Roads” (LSR).

In the context of Riga and Pierīga, Kristaps Kauliņš, Director of the Department of Urban Space and Mobility of the Riga City Council and Klāvs Grieze, Director of Development Division, LSR, will speak about road infrastructure. Guntis Grāveris, the leading expert of Strategy Department, LSR, will explain how important high-quality planning of municipal territories is for traffic safety and how unresolved access solutions may create risks. In turn, Edgars Mekšs, Chairman of the Ludza Region Council, will talk about his experience in taking over state roads.

Janno Sammul, Director of Road Management Department of the Estonian Transport Administration, will inform about the development of the road network and financing of state roads in the neighbouring country, Szymon Piechowiak, Deputy Director of the Director’s Office of the General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways of Poland,  will introduce the experience of the rapid development of Polish road infrastructure.

Gundars Kains, Director of Traffic Organization Division, LSR, at the conference will speak on traffic safety issues, while Jurģis Briedis, an environmental accessibility expert of Apeirons Foundation for the Disabled Persons and their Friends, will talk about ensuring environmental accessibility in road projects.

In the discussion on the first day of the conference, experts will discuss how people’s thinking and behaviour in traffic may be changed to improve road safety. The discussion will be attended by Ivars Austers, Professor of Social Sciences at the University of Latvia (LU), Zanda Rubene, Professor of Educational Sciences at the University of Latvia, Jurģis Šķilters, Professor of Cognitive Sciences at the University of Latvia, Mārtiņš Lazdovskis, Chairman of the Board of “Latvian State Roads”,  Arturs Smilga, Deputy Chief of the State Police Main Order Police Department, and Oskars Irbītis, Head of the Serious Road Traffic Accident Research Project of Road Traffic Safety Directorate. The discussion will be moderated by Pauls Timrots, host of the Zebra TV programme.

On April 23 at 10:00, Verners Akimovs, Member of the Board, LSR, will open the second day of the conference, which will be dedicated to technology and road maintenance issues. Juris Derevjanko, Director pf Road Management and Maintenance Division, LSR, will talk about routine maintenance of state roads in the next five-year cycle, while Toms Vičkačka, Head of Infrastructure Maintenance Department, Via Lietuva, will talk about Lithuania’s experience in maintaining state roads.

Sven Martin Nielsen, Head of the Transport Department of the German Road and Transport Research Association, will introduce the situation of German alleys and safe traffic guidelines regarding roadside trees.

Edgars Vaivods, Responsible Construction Manager from “Nordes būve”, Ltd., will talk about the progress, challenges and solutions of the construction of the bridge over the Salaca in Salacgrīva, while Sandis Junkers, Head of the Bridge Department from SIA ACBR, Ltd., will inform about the current events of the 4^th phase of the Southern Bridge project.

On April 23, from 11:40 to 12:30, LSR open microphone will be held live as part of the conference – by calling 22005531 everyone will have the opportunity to ask their question about state roads to LSR management.

Gints Alberiņš, Director of Construction Division, LSR, will explain today’s needs in road construction design and outline future requirements in this area.

Researchers from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering of Riga Technical University Andrejs Kavlaks and Aivars Kļavinskis as well as Līga Gebauere,  Manager of Road Construction Materials Testing Laboratory of CBF Binders and Sergejs Gorņiks from “Madaberi”Ltd., will talk about technology and other current industry issues.

The discussion on the second day will discuss how to balance the development of state roads with the intentions of entrepreneurs, ensuring that both the interests of society and business are taken into account. The discussion will be attended by Verners Akimovs. Member of the Board, LSR, Olga Feldmane, Director of the Construction Policy Department of the Ministry of Economics, Tālivaldis Vectirāns, Director of the Road Traffic Department of the Ministry of Transport, Gatis Ģērmanis, Executive Director of Jelgava Regional Council, Ivars Liepiņš, Executive Director of Tukums Regional Council, and Māris Sīmanis,  Project Manager from Ignitis Renewables Latvia. The discussion will be moderated by communications expert Ivars Svilāns. The road industry conference is organized annually by State Limited Liability Company “Latvian State Roads”.