About department of Roads

The Department of Roads is one of the few departments in Lithuania that has already celebrated its 100th anniversary.
On 16 February, 1922, the University of Lithuania was solemnly opened in Kaunas, and within it, the Department of Roads was established. The University Statute adopted by the Constituent Assembly on March 24, 1922, stated that “this statute is mandatory for the University of Lithuania, established in the city of Kaunas on February 16, 1922.” On April 12, 1922, the President of the Republic of Lithuania published the University Statute adopted by the Constituent Assembly in the "Government Gazette" (No. 86), and it came into effect on the same day. According to the Law on the Establishment of the University of Lithuania, six faculties were to be formed, including the Faculty of Engineering, which consisted of four divisions and 17 departaments. Among them was the Department of Roads. Therefore, the official date of the establishment of the Department of Roads, April 12, 1922, has become significant for all Lithuanian road engineers.
From 1922 to 1930, the Department of Roads, where road engineers were trained, operated in Kaunas at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Lithuania. From 1930 to 1946, it was part of Vytautas Magnus University; from 1946 to 1950 – Kaunas State University; from 1951 to 1969 – Kaunas Polytechnic Institute; from 1990 to 1996 – Vilnius Technical University; and since 1996 – Vilnius Gediminas Technical University.
From the very beginning, the Department of Roads has actively engaged in teaching and research. The first head of the department, appointed in 1922, was Associate Professor (later Professor) Jonas Šimoliūnas.
In 1930, at Vytautas Magnus University, due to financial constraints, the Faculty of Engineering had to consolidate some departments. Thus, the Department of Roads was merged with the Department of Geodesy, forming the Department of Geodesy and Roads, headed by Extraordinary Professor and Brigadier General Stasys Dirmantas.
In 1940, with the introduction of Soviet rule in Lithuania, the Faculty of Engineering at Kaunas University was restructured. It was replaced by two faculties: Civil Engineering and Technology. The new Faculty of Civil Engineering included 12 departments, among them the Department of Roads as an independent unit. In October 1940, Professor Juozas Gabrys was appointed head of the department. He was the first from the department to defend a doctoral dissertation in 1938 at the University of Riga, titled "Concrete and Reinforced Concrete Three-Hinged Arches."
During the German occupation, on 15 March, 1942, the university was closed, but the lecturers of the Department of Roads continued to unofficially teach road and railway courses to senior students.
In 1944, even while the war was still ongoing, Kaunas State University began operating again, and the Department of Roads was re-established. In the same year, the first students who specialised in road engineering were admitted. During the 1944–1945 academic year, the department employed four academic and research staff: head of the department Assoc. Prof. Jonas Kiškinas, senior lecturers Stasys Lukošiūnas, Vytautas Likevičius, and Vytautas Kriščiūnas.
In 1948, new lecturers who had earned their engineering degrees after the war joined the department, including civil engineers Albinas Tamaševičius and Simonas Sidaras. Assoc. Prof. A. Tamaševičius initiated contract-based research at the department. In 1950, young road engineers Vaclovas Pranaitis and Evaldas Palšaitis, recent graduates of Kaunas State University, began working at the department.
In 1969, the Department of Roads moved to the Vilnius Civil Engineering Institute and has remained a part of the Faculty of Environmental Engineering at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University ever since.
One of the first postwar graduates with a diploma, road engineer Evaldas Palšaitis, worked at the Department of Roads in Kaunas and later in Vilnius from 1950 to 1993. He went through all the academic ranks from assistant to associate professor. Assoc. Prof., Candidate of Technical Sciences E. Palšaitis is considered one of the most experienced lecturers of the department.
In 1954, after defending his Candidate of Technical Sciences dissertation in Moscow, Linas Vidugiris began working at the Department of Roads at the Kaunas Polytechnic Institute. A well-known lecturer to many generations of road engineers, he worked at the department until 1994 and served as its head from 1962 to 1967.
A particularly outstanding figure in the department's history was long-time head Professor Habil. Dr. Steponas Rokas. After graduating in 1954 from Kaunas Polytechnic Institute with a road engineer degree, he began working as an assistant in the Department of Roads. In 1956, he enroled in a postgraduate programme at the Moscow Institute of Automobile and Road Construction. Upon completing it, he defended his dissertation in Kharkiv in 1961 and returned to the department. From 1967 to 1977, he served as department head. In 1984, Prof. Rokas was the first in the department after the war to defend a Doctor of Technical Sciences dissertation. Under his leadership, research gained a unified direction, the material base of the department was strengthened, and many young postgraduates (now doctoral students) successfully defended their Candidate of Sciences dissertations.
From 1977 to 1987, the department was headed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kazys Sakalauskas, who is considered the restorer of the railway engineering specialisation within the Department of Roads. He assembled a team of young lecturers who taught all subjects of railway design and prepared bachelor's, master's, and doctoral students in railway construction.
From 1988 to 1993, the department was led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vytautas Jasulaitis, who made a significant contribution to solving problems related to road cement concrete production and research.
Between 1984 and 1989, several of Prof. S. Rokas' students defended their dissertations: Henrikas Sivilevičius (Moscow), Kazys Petkevičius (Moscow), Kęstutis Skerys (Kharkiv), Alfredas Laurinavičius (Moscow), and Igoris Podagėlis (Odessa). These graduates continued to work successfully at the Department of Roads and its laboratory.
Since 1997, doctoral students from the Department of Roads at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University have defended their dissertations nearly every year, often more than one per year:
1997 – Donatas Čygas, 
1998 – Skirmantas Skrinskas, 
2000 – Virgaudas Puodžiukas, 
2003 – Daiva Žilionienė,  
2004 – Inesa Povilaitienė, Laura Černiauskaitė, 
2005 – Aivaras Braga, 
2007 – Rolandas Oginskas ir Audrius Vaitkus, 
2009 – Lina Juknevičiūtė-Žilinskienė ir Kornelija Ratkevičiūtė, 
2010 – Vilimas Gintalas, 
2011 – Viktoras Vorobjovas ir Lina Bertulienė, 
2012 – Darjušas Mučinis ir Vilma Jasiūnienė, 
2013 – Faustina Tuminienė ir Laura Žiliūtė, 
2014 – Miglė Paliukaitė, 
2016 – Vaidas Ramūnas ir Rita Kleizienė, 
2017 – Tomas Ratkevičius ir Laura Jateikienė, 
2018 – Ovidijus Šernas, 
2019 – V Vytautas Bielinskas, Vytautas Dumbliauskas, Andrius Barauskas ir Judita Gražulytė, 
2020 – Aurimas Šiukščius ir Jonas Damidavičius, 
2021 – Dovydas Skrodenis, Lina Šneideraitienė, Simona Zapolskytė ir Igoris Kravcovas, 
2022 – Vilius Filotenkovas ir Andrius Baltrušaitis, 
2024 – Paulius Paplauskas, 
2025 – Justina Ranceva, Aja Tumavičė, Rafal Mickevič, Laura Gavėnienė.

Heads of the Road Department:
1922–1930 ‒ prof. Jonas Šimoliūnas
1930–1940 ‒ extraordinary professor Stasys Dirmantas
1940–1944 ‒ prof. habil. dr. Juozas Gabrys
1944–1956 ‒ asocc. prof. t. m. k. Juozas Kiškinas
1956–1962 ‒ asocc. prof. t. m. k. Stasys Lukošiūnas
1962–1967 ‒ assoc. prof. dr. Linas Vidugiris
1967–1977 ‒ prof. habil. dr. Steponas Rokas
1977–1987 ‒ assoc. prof. Kazys Sakalauskas
1987–1993 ‒ assoc. prof. dr. Vytautas Jasulaitis
1993–1995 ‒ assoc. prof. dr. Kazys Sakalauskas
1995–2013 ‒ prof. dr. Alfredas Laurinavičius
2013–2019 ‒ assoc. prof. dr. Virgaudas Puodžiukas
2019–2024 ‒ assoc. prof. dr. Viktoras Vorobjovas
From 2024 – assoc. prof. dr. Vilma Jasiūnienė
 

Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania, emphasizing long-term pedagogical activity and implementation of the latest scientific and technical achievements using the most advanced technologies, has awarded the following lecturers of Road Department by handing in the “Badge of Honor“:
Assoc. prof.  dr E. Palšaitis,
Assoc. prof. dr L. Vidugiris,
Assoc. prof. dr V. Jasulaitis,
Assoc. prof. dr A. A. Juzėnas,
Assoc. prof. dr V. Puodžiukas,
Prof. dr D. Čygas,
Prof. dr A. Laurinavičius,
Assoc. prof. dr K. Sakalauskas,
Prof. dr K. Petkevičius,
Assoc. prof. dr K. Skerys.

Two lecturers of the Road Department Assoc. prof. dr K. Sakalauskas and Assoc. Prof. dr I. Podagėlis were awarded by the "Badge of Honor of a Railwayman" for the long-term and impeccable work, great contribution to the development of railway transport and training of highly qualified railway transport specialists.

 

The staff of the department are members of the following organizations:

• ISAP - International Society for Asphalt Pavements. Members: Donatas Čygas and Alfredas Laurinavičius.
• RILEM - The International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures. Member: Audrius Vaitkus.
• FEHRL - the Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories. Member of the Supervisory Committee and the General Assembly: Audrius Vaitkus.
• PIARC - World Road Association. Member: Donatas Čygas.
• BRA - Baltic Road Association. Member of the Technical Committee Road Pavements: Audrius Vaitkus.
• Vilnius City Municipality, Traffic Safety Commission. Member: Audrius Vaitkus.
• Lithuanian Higher Education Council. Member: Donatas Čygas.
• Lithuanian Union of Scientists. Members: Marija Burinskienė and Alfredas Laurinavičius.
• Technical Union. Member: Marija Burinskienė.
• Lithuanian Union of Civil Engineers. Members: Marija Burinskienė and Alfredas Laurinavičius.
• LSD TC 12 - Technical Committee of the Lithuanian Standardization Department “Automobile Roads”. Member: Viktoras Vorobjovas. Since 2016 - chairman.
• LSD TC 43 - Technical Committee of the Lithuanian Standardization Department “Railway Transport”. Member: Inesa Gailienė.
• International Conference on Road and Rail Infrastructure (CETRA), Member of the International Scientific Committee: Audrius Vaitkus.
• Member of the Scientific Committee of the International Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering (ISSN 1336-5835): Audrius Vaitkus.
• Member of the Editorial Board of the International Scientific Journal of Advanced Transportation: Daiva Žilionienė.
• Members of the Editorial Board of the International Scientific Journal The Baltic Journal of Road and Bridge Engineering (ISSN 1822-427X): Donatas Čygas, Vilma Jasiūnienė, Alfredas Laurinavičius, Dainius Miškinis, Virgaudas Puodžiukas, Audrius Vaitkus, Viktoras Vorobjovas and Daiva Žilionienė.
• Member of the Editorial Board of the International Scientific Journal Architecture and Construction Science (ISSN 1407-7329): Alfredas Laurinavičius.
• Member of the Editorial Board of the International Scientific and Technical Journal Roads and Bridges (ISSN 2225-9082): Alfredas Laurinavičius.
• Member of the Editorial Board of the magazine Lietuvos keliai (ISSN 1392-8678): Alfredas Laurinavičius.
• Member of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) of the BCRRA (International Conference on the Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways and Airfields): Audrius Vaitkus.
• Member of the International Pavement Research Meeting of Transport Research Board International Meeting: Audrius Vaitkus.