In the early 1970s, there were about 470,000 people living in Vermont and the Highway Department was primarily focused on building and maintaining roads. Today, the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) serves a population of approximately 626,000 Vermonters who, along with visitors, combine to travel over 7.1 billion vehicle miles over the State's roads.
It was forty years ago that the Legislature combined four separate departments -- Highway, Motor Vehicles, Aeronautics, and Public Transit -- to form the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
At that time the State was well into the interstate construction era, and the Agency mission was clear -- build and maintain roads. Today, the Agency has an evolving mission, striving to become a truly intermodal agency, maintaining our existing infrastructure, and developing an integrated transportation network that includes rail, air, public transit, and bike/pedestrian systems designed to improve and enhance the movement of people and goods.
Today, Vermont has approximately 14,200 miles of roadway, 320 miles of Interstate, over 2,700 miles of toll-free state highways, and over 11,000 miles of municipal roads. There are also 748 miles of railroads and 453 of them are owned by the State of Vermont. There are 16 public use airports and 10 state-owned airports.