A Brief Outline of Six Decades
1949–1960: the start of company’s activities
To deal with the aftermath of the war the Road Building District No. 1 (Kelių statybos rajonas Nr. 1) was established in the year 1949. This was the first building company under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Lithuania. The company had 10 pieces of road building machinery and 160 workers. In 1956, the company built its first bridge – a bridge across the Neris River in Jonava town.
1961–1970: the first kilometres of highways
Development of a production facility started on an area of 13.7 hectares in Palemonas. This allowed the company to undertake greater volume of works – in 1964 the Kaunas Northern bypass, one of the main Kaunas roads, was built; this was followed in 1965–1970 by the construction of the 100-km Vilnius-Kaunas highway. In 1966, the company changed its name and became the First Bridge Building Authority of Kaunas (Kauno pirmoji tiltų statybos valdyba).
1971–1990: more bypasses
In the 1980s the company spent seven years with its partners on the construction of the 200-km Kaunas-Klaipėda highway. In 1987, construction of the Kaunas Western bypass was started. In 1990, the company’s name was once again changed – this time it became the Kaunas State Bridge Building Company (Kauno valstybinė tiltų statybos įmonė).
1991–2000: the first projects abroad and privatisation of the company
In 1991, the company undertook works in the airports and implemented its first airport project – a runway in the Kaunas airport. In 1992, the company started to work abroad – the first roads were built in Lida military town (Belarus). In 1993, the company was privatised and reorganised into public limited liability company Kauno tiltai AB. In 1999, a modern asphalt mixing plant with a capacity up to 160 tonnes of asphalt per hour was acquired. In 1999-2003, almost 60 km of the road E67 of European significance (Via Baltica) was constructed and reconstructed. In 2000, the staff of the company amounted to more than 500 people. The same year the company’s laboratory was accredited by the Lithuanian National Accreditation Bureau. In 2000, the company certified its Quality Management System according to the ISO 9001 standard.
2001–2010: a decade of fast development
By 2003, construction of the Kaunas Western bypass was finished. In 2007, the company certified its Environmental Management System according to the ISO 14001 standard and its Occupational Health and Safety Management System according to the OHSAS 18001 standard. By expanding its activities the company acquired such road building companies as Taurakelis, Kėdainių automobilių keliai and Kelda in Lithuania and PDM Bialystok as well as PEUiM in Poland. The company’s activity portfolio was supplemented with the first works in the field of the construction of railway infrastructure: the first project implemented – reconstruction of railway structures on the transport corridor IXB (Vilnius-Klaipėda).
In 2005, one of the oldest bridges in the city of Kaunas, Aleksotas bridge, was reconstructed. With the growth in the number of large-scale projects the company acquired the biggest asphalt mixing plant in the Baltics; the plant had the capacity to produce up to 320 tonnes of asphalt per hour. In 2006-2008, the final section of the transport corridor IXB was built, the company also built what was then the longest scaffold bridge in Lithuania – 380 metres.
In 2007, the works in the field of tunnel construction and reconstruction were started – Kaunas railway tunnel was reconstructed. In addition, the company commenced its business in the field of Street lighting by installing lighting on the certain sections of Vilnius-Klaipėda highway. In 2008, when the Tiltra Group was established, the infrastructure construction company operating in Poland and Lithuania, Kauno tiltai AB became a part of it.
In 2009, the management of the company was reorganised. The majority of the staff from Kėdainių automobilių keliai and Taurakelis was transferred to Kauno Tiltai AB, with a consequent rise in employee numbers up to 900. In 2008-2010, the company built the largest – 610 metres – scaffold bridge in Lithuania during the first stage of the reconstruction of the Klaipėda Jakai roundabout.
In 2009-2010, the works of the first stage of the Vilnius Western bypass were started: Lazdynai bridge, one of the most important Vilnius bridges, was reconstructed. In 2010, the company got involved into another new type of activities – building of sea ports and their infrastructure. The first project implemented – reconstruction of the Smiltynė yacht harbour. The end of 2010 saw the commencement of the second stage of the Jakai roundabout reconstruction.
2011-2013: the first projects in Latvia and growing railway construction activity
After the Tiltra Group of company’s merger with one of the largest Polish railway infrastructure construction companies Trakcja Polska in 2011, a new infrastructure construction group of companies Trakcja was formed. On 19 April 2011 Kauno Tiltai became a part of this group of companies.In 2011, the company won the biggest in its history project – Construction of the Second Track in Kyviškės – Valčiūnai section of Vilnius Bypass on the Corridor IXB (railway construction). In the very same year the company specialists successfully reconstructed Smiltynė yacht harbour which was declared the best structure of hydrotechnics and land reclamation by the Lithuanian Union of Land–Use Planning and Hydrotechnical Engineers in 2011. In 2012 the company started works in the construction of high voltage (110 kV) power networks. During less than two years the first project was implemented – Replacement of high voltage overhead power line from the territory of Vilnius Western bypass. In 2012, the company finished reconstructions of Klaipėda Jakai roundabout (2nd stage) and a railway section Radviliškis- Pagėgiai- state border (1st stage) on the Corridor IA. In 2012, the company started to work in the Latvian market. During 2013 the company strengthened its positions in the Eastern and Central Latvia and established a representative office of Kauno Tiltai in neighbouring country. The year 2013 distinguished for exclusive projects the company is proud of. The most important of them – Constructions of the link between IXB Transport Corridor (Žirniai str.) and Vilnius International Airport. This project is unique in a sense that the company implemented it during six months and was able to finish the works even three months sooner. The project earned the highest award in the Product of the Year 2013 contest annually held by the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists. In 2013 the company finished the construction of Vilnius Western Bypass (2nd stage) six months sooner, also reconstructed over 25 km of the main national highway A1 (E85) Vilnius-Kaunas-Klaipėda. In 2013 the company submitted the best offers for several tenders for constructing the railway line Rail Baltica of international significance. Out of five main contractors that construct the Rail Baltica line, the value of works undertaken by the company is the biggest and totals LTL 378 million (including VAT).