Preparatory work for the new bus fleet begins in Liepkalnis. Buses, personnel and all equipment of the entire Verkiau bus fleet should move into this park.
The 9 ha territory in Vilnius, where the Verkių bus park is now located, will become the largest space for change in the entire city in the coming years. It is planned that the current bus park will move out of the area in 2023, so it is already being considered what value the conversion of this area would create for the city into a multifunctional space with buildings for public spaces, creative activities, public services and residential functions.
About the development of this area, this week, the advisor to the mayor of Vilnius, Karolis Žukauskas, spoke with the architect Tadus Jonauskis on the "Kalba Vilnius" show, who in Vilnius city municipality curates this huge project. New streets, new connections, 30 thousand. new residents, a new bridge, new public spaces - huge changes in the Žirmūnai district, which the municipality must plan and manage.
"In 1964 on the outskirts of Vilnius, Žirmūnai, a new Verkiu bus park was built, which housed 400 buses in the largest covered hangar in the Baltic States. It was needed because in the first such bus fleet, which has been operating since 1932. was located on Savanorių avenue (approximately near the Neste gas station and RHYMES, in front of the Vingis cinema), the buses no longer fit.
Fast forward - 60 years later, this area of the bus park is no longer on the outskirts of the city, but rather very close to the center. A huge closed dead block, an asphalt wasteland with a huge hangar. Having one close to the city center is the same strange luxury as having a washing machine in the living room at home. Therefore, some time ago, the municipality planned to move this bus fleet to new parks on the outskirts of the city.
The Verkiau bus park will be able to turn into new public spaces, a school, a kindergarten, residential buildings - it will fit even several blocks. But more importantly, it can be an accelerator of changes in the entire Žirmūnai industrial district. The size of this territory is cosmic. In the visual, you can see where the inhabitants of Žirmūnai live - marked in yellow. The rest is industrial or commercial, with almost zero population. For comparison, we could move the Old Town of Vilnius here, it would all fit in (shown in the visual). Hence, if the entire district were to be converted, it could accommodate as many as 30 people. new residents.
How to make all these changes not spontaneous and chaotic?
The municipality is already creating a vision for changes in this part of the city - huge industrial blocks should be cut into smaller ones, new streets and new buildings should appear. In the Weeping Bus Park, that monster hangar should remain - it can be adapted for absolutely new activities. A new pedestrian bridge must be built between Žirmūnai and Antakalnis, necessary for the residents of both districts.
In some 5-10 years, this could be a new hot spot in Vilnius, together with the southern part of New Town near of the station and together with Wolffoot. If you are interested in how the changes will take place and what everything will turn into - check out the "Kalba Vilnius" podcast - we talked to the architect who is supervising this project, Tadas Jonauskis.
In general, if I said yesterday that all kinds of legal battles with anti-vaxxers or marketers created a kind of part-time law studies for me, then all these conversations in the municipality with architects during the years I've been working here helped me pass a kind of extra-mural urban planning course. A huge plus of working in the municipality, which I would never have thought about before", writes Karolis Žukauskas.
