Vermont Road Cameras: A Traveler's Guide to VTrans Live Cams and Road-Weather Sensors
How to use Vermont's 89 VTrans traffic cameras and roadside RWIS sensors to check I-89, I-91, US-7, US-4, and VT-100 conditions before you drive, plus tips for ski season and the mountain gaps.
Vermont is a small state with outsized driving challenges. Between the Champlain Valley and the spine of the Green Mountains, a single trip can take you from bare pavement to a snow-covered pass in twenty minutes. That is exactly why the Vermont Agency of Transportation (VTrans) operates roughly 89 cameras on the New England Compass platform, and why checking them before you leave is one of the smartest habits a Vermont traveler can build. You can see every one of them on our Vermont road cameras page.
This guide walks through what the cameras cover, how the road-weather sensors behind them work, and how to use both together for a safer drive.
What makes Vermont's cameras different
A lot of traffic-camera networks just give you a picture. Vermont gives you a picture plus genuine on-road data. Most VTrans cameras are mounted at Road Weather Information System (RWIS) sites, roadside ESS stations co-located with the camera. Each linked sensor reports:
- Air temperature at the roadside
- Pavement (surface) temperature, the temperature of the road itself
- Road surface condition, classified as dry, wet, snow, or ice
- Wind speed and direction
That pavement reading is the one to fixate on in winter. Air can sit at 34 degrees while the road surface has already dropped below freezing, which is the classic recipe for black ice. A camera still might show a road that merely looks wet, but the sensor tells you it is actually icing over. Because this is data from the road, not an airport miles away, it is far more trustworthy than a regional forecast. Pull up the Vermont cameras and read the surface temperature first.
The corridors worth knowing
Vermont's camera coverage tracks the routes that carry the most traffic and the most weather risk.
- I-89 is the diagonal backbone, running from Burlington on Lake Champlain southeast through Waterbury, Montpelier, and the rural midstate down to White River Junction, where it meets I-91 and crosses into New Hampshire. The long grades near Bolton and Middlesex are notorious for snow squalls.
- I-91 is the eastern spine, a 177-mile run up the Connecticut River valley from the Massachusetts line at Brattleboro through White River Junction and St. Johnsbury to Newport and the Canadian border at Derby Line.
- US-7 is the western corridor down the Champlain Valley, linking Bennington, Manchester, Rutland, Middlebury, and Burlington.
- US-4 climbs from Rutland past Mendon and Killington before dropping to White River Junction, one of the most weather-sensitive stretches in the state.
- VT-100 is the scenic spine of ski country, threading the Green Mountains past Mount Snow, Killington, Sugarbush, and Stowe.
Ski season: read the road before the drive
From December through spring, the resorts pull heavy weekend traffic onto narrow approach roads, and those roads gain elevation fast. A few habits help:
- Heading to Killington, check the US-4 cameras east of Rutland through Mendon before you commit to the climb.
- Heading to Stowe or Sugarbush, watch I-89 exit 10 at Waterbury and the VT-100 corridor; the Sugarbush Access Road in Warren is the final leg into the Mad River Valley.
- Heading to Mount Snow, watch VT-9 (the Molly Stark Trail) to Wilmington and then VT-100 north to West Dover.
A live still also tells you whether you are about to crawl into a weekend backup, which a forecast never will. Keep the Vermont road cameras open on your phone and refresh right before you leave.
Mind the mountain gaps
Vermont's high passes are part of what makes driving here memorable, and part of what makes it tricky.
- Smugglers' Notch (VT-108) between Stowe and Jeffersonville is too steep to plow and closes for winter, typically mid-October to mid-May. During the closure, the route to Smugglers' Notch Resort runs via VT-100 to Morrisville.
- Lincoln Gap, the highest paved road in the state, closes in winter as well.
- Appalachian Gap on VT-17 over the shoulder of Camel's Hump stays open and plowed but is steep, winding, and quick to turn slick.
Before you route over any gap in marginal weather, check a camera at the approach. If a pass is closed, you want to know before you are halfway up.
A simple pre-trip routine
- Open the Vermont cameras and find the ones along your route.
- Read the surface temperature and road surface condition at each RWIS site, not just the air temperature.
- Look at the actual image for snow cover, standing water, and visibility.
- If you are crossing a gap, confirm it is open.
- Refresh right before you leave, since mountain conditions change fast.
Crossing state lines
Vermont trips often spill into the neighbors. If you are coming up from the south through Bennington or Brattleboro, the Massachusetts cameras cover the Mass Pike, Route 2, and the Berkshires. Just across the Connecticut River from I-91 and I-89, the New Hampshire cameras pick up the White Mountains and the I-93 corridor. You can see the full list of states we track on the main road cameras hub.
Vermont rewards drivers who plan. A thirty-second look at a camera and a surface-temperature reading is the difference between a confident drive over the Green Mountains and an unpleasant surprise on a pass. Make it a habit.