The A2 motorway is a highway in

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

( Magistralinis kelias). It connects the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

city of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

with

Panevėžys Panevėžys (; Latin: ''Panevezen''; pl, Poniewież; yi, פּאָנעװעזש, ''Ponevezh''; see also other names) is the fifth largest city in Lithuania. As of 2011, it occupied with 113,653 inhabitants. As defined by Eurostat, the population ...

, via

Ukmergė Ukmergė (; previously ''Vilkmergė''; pl, Wiłkomierz) is a city in Vilnius County, Lithuania, located northwest of Vilnius, with a population of about 20,000. Etymology and variant names The city took its original name ''Vilkmergė'' from th ...

. Its length is over . It is a

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

for almost its whole length. The

highway was the first section opened. Later, the highway was extended to

. There are in total six at-grade junctions with

U-turn A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as a m ...

s in this motorway. Five out of six of these junctions have automatic detecting systems with variable electronic road signs implemented which indicate a lower speed limit (usually 110 km/h instead of 130 km/h in summer time) if a U-turn or surrounding infrastructure is being used (excluding transit traffic of A2 highway). One section with an U-turn, but without this system has standard signs with the lowered speed limit of 110 km/h. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsRvAIoLd-s Intelligent variable message signs Agricultural vehicles cannot enter either the main road or the U-turns just to get to the other side since motorway signs are implemented near the junctions which restrict entry for any agricultural or slow vehicle. The A2 highway has 4 lanes (two lanes each way) separated by a wide grass line and, in many parts, safety rails. The highway follows

European route E272 European route E272 is a Class B road part of the International E-road network. It runs only through Lithuania, begins in Klaipėda and ends in Vilnius. Route: Klaipėda - Palanga - Šiauliai - Panevėžys - Ukmerge - Vilnius Vilnius ( , ...

for its entire length. The most notable event in the highway was the peaceful political demonstration of the

Baltic Way The Baltic Way ( lt, Baltijos kelias, lv, Baltijas ceļš, et, Balti kett) or Baltic Chain (also "Chain of Freedom") was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on 23 August 1989. Approximately two million people joined their hands to ...

during the

Singing Revolution The Singing Revolution; lv, dziesmotā revolūcija; lt, dainuojanti revoliucija) was a series of events that led to the restoration of independence of the Baltic states, Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from the Soviet Union a ...

in the late 1980s. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning across the three

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

then being part of

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. Before early 1990s, the road was part of the Soviet Union's route signing system and was part of the Minsk-Vilnius-Riga highway M11.

References

{{Highways in Lithuania Roads in Lithuania