The state has 2,843 miles (4,575 km) of highways under its control. Three Interstate highways and five U.S. highways enter Vermont, in addition to its own state highway network.
Vermont’s main mode of travel is by automobile. 5.7% of Vermont households did not own a car in 2008. In 2012, there were 605,000 motor vehicles registered, nearly one car for every person in the state. This is similar to average car ownership nationwide. In 2012, about half the carbon emissions in the state resulted from vehicles.
On average, 20–25 people die each year from drunk driving incidents, and 70–80 people are in fatal car crashes in the state. Motorists have the highest insurance rates in the country, 93%, tied with Pennsylvania.
In 2010, Vermont owned 2,840 miles (4,570 km) of the highway. This was the third smallest quantity among the 50 states. 2.5% of the highways were listed as “congested,” the 5th lowest in the country. The highway fatality rate was one per 100,000,000 miles (160,000,000 km), tenth lowest in the nation. The highways cost $28,669 per 1 mile (1.6 km) to maintain, the 17th highest in the states. 34.4% of its bridges were rated deficient or obsolete, the 8th worst in the nation.
Individual communities and counties have public transit, but their breadth of coverage is frequently limited. Greyhound Lines services a number of small towns. Two Amtrak trains serve Vermont, the Vermonter, and the Ethan Allen Express. In early 2011, Amtrak evaluated the track used by the Ethan Allen Express between Rutland and Whitehall as the worst in the nation, but subsequent improvements to the track later in 2011 vastly improved its performance going forward.
Trucks weighing less than 80,000 pounds (36,000 kg) can use Vermont’s interstate highways. The limit for state roads is 99,000 pounds (45,000 kg). This means that vehicles too heavy for the interstates can legally use only secondary roads.
In 1968, Vermont outlawed the use of billboards for advertisement along its roads. It is one of four states in the U.S. to have done this, along with Hawaii, Maine, and Alaska.