Vermont/Resources/Main Discussion View history


Functional Classification

Vermont follows the Functional Classification (FC) system for both state and non-state roads. As of January 2016 all counties in Vermont have been updated to the new Functional Classification standard and the state is 100% complete.

VTrans to Waze FC Mapping

Resources including color legend mapping the VTrans Functional Classification to Waze Road Types.

VTRANS GIS Class and Color Description

GIS Legend
GIS Legend

The Vermont Classification and Color scheme comes from the official Functional Classification (FC) map that is published by VTRANS. The legend shows what classifications VTRANS uses and what color is assigned to each class.

VTrans to Waze Conversion Table

The numbers correspond to the FC type indicated on some VT maps. (e.g. Functional Class 7 road is a Major Collector)

Highway Systems
Interstate US Hwy (incl. some special routes) US Hwy BUS, SPUR, LOOP State Hwy (incl. some special routes) State Hwy BUS, SPUR[a], LOOP Locally-maintained
example>>>>> I-95 N US-2 US-460 Business SR-27 (SR-27A) SR-400 Loop Robertson St
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  Principal Arterial Interstate (1,11)   Fw  n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
  Principal Arterial - Freeway (12)  n/a  Fw   Fw   Fw   Fw   Fw 
  Principal Arterial (2,14)  n/a  Major   Major   Major   Major   Major 
  Minor Arterial (6,16)  n/a  Major   Minor   Minor   Minor   Minor 
  Major Collector (7,17)  n/a  Major   Minor   Minor   PS   PS 
  Minor Collector (8)  n/a  Major   Minor   Minor   PS   PS 
 Local Road (9,19)  n/a  Major   Minor   Minor   PS   Street 


State Resources

Day to Day Resources

These resources are the most useful for day-to-day editing in Vermont and all editors should be familiar with them:

Vermont E911 Viewer
https://maps.vermont.gov/e911/Html5Viewer/?viewer=e911viewer
Waze accepted street names, state road classes, house numbers and other features

WME GIS Layers
https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/369632-wme-gis-layers
Script to display Vermont E911 address points and property parcels

WME Cities Overlay Script
https://www.waze.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=819&t=256369
Script to display the Vermont municipal boundaries

VTrans Town Highway Maps
http://vtransmaps.vermont.gov/mapsftp/current.asp
Maps of cities, towns and villages in PDF format - only includes municipally accepted roads

Reference Resources

For more in-depth research the following resources are available:

Vermont Parcel Viewer
https://maps.vcgi.vermont.gov/ParcelViewer/
Property boundaries - should include all towns as of 2020. This information is also available with the WME GIS-L script.

GCGI - VT Interactive Map Viewer (Requires Microsoft Silverlight)
https://maps.vermont.gov/vcgi/html5viewer/?viewer=vtmapviewer

Vermont Interstate & US Routes with Exit Numbers
http://vtransmaps.vermont.gov/staticMaps/VermontExits.pdf

Vermont Interstate Exists and Rest Areas
http://vtransmaps.vermont.gov/staticMaps/Interstate.pdf

VTrans Current and Planned Construction Projects
http://vtrans.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?appid=2b310c475274402bb9a03eadd69991bf

VTrans Planned Bridge Closings
http://vtransmaps.vermont.gov/bridgeclosures/map.htm

County-Town Map Series

This map series is inspired by the County‐Town map series last produced by VTRANS in the 1980's.

The maps feature the public roads of Vermont. The major routes (ranging from principal arterials to minor collectors) are highlighted. Also included are the town highway numbers and names of many of the town highways. Other features include the locations of police stations, fire stations, and hospitals.

What makes this atlas unique in comparison to other atlas products is the County‐Town tiling structure that ensures that at least one map sheet will contain a particular town in its entirety.

More information about the map series

WME Scripts

In addition to the scripts noted above there are many other scripts that can assist editors in their efforts. Please read the General installation instructions before installing scripts. Members of the editing community would be glad to assist you with the setup and configuration of scripts - please join us on our Discord server!

WME Road Type Guidance

Questions often arise regarding when to use Parking Lot Roads versus Private Roads:

Parking Lot Road Usage

  • Parking Lots
  • Apartment and condo complexes
  • Cemeteries

Private Road Usage

  • Driveways
  • Any road with controlled access: gated communities, businesses with gates or a guard
  • Campgrounds or trailer parks designed for short term guests
  • Never use the private road type for an unrestricted public road!


Vermont's System of Roads

State and Municipal Roads

Every state and municipal road in Vermont is assigned a class as defined by statues which is used for funding under state programs. Classes 1-3 qualify for funding while class 4 and other designations do not.

VTrans municipal highway maps only show municipally accepted roads. By convention, each road is assigned a town highway number. Many street signs still include the designation: MAIN ST TH-1

Of these roads, over 50% of the roads in Vermont are dirt - please be sure to select Unpaved where appropriate.

Paved Miles Unpaved Miles Total Miles
7,151 8,650 15,801

https://vtrans.vermont.gov/planning/maps/stats

Vermont Private Roads

In addition to municipally accepted roads most towns also have private road that are not maintained by the town. These are NOT indicated on VTrans maps but ARE found on the VT E911 viewer.

Private / non-municipal roads should be assigned the Local Street type in WME.

Assigning Street Names

  • The Vermont E911 Viewer is the authoritative source for Waze street names
  • The Primary Street name should always match the Vermont E911 Viewer name including US and Vermont highways
  • For US and VT highways - if the VT E911 name is a normal street name then add the US-XX or VT-XX name as a secondary name and leave the secondary city name blank
  • Ensure streets have nodes at city / town / village boundaries in accordance with the WME Cities Overlay script
  • This approach will ensure that there will not be duplicate house numbers within the same city / town / village


The Vermont E911 viewer is updated in real-time and accurately reflects the names of every road in the state. Each municipality has a representative who is responsible of reporting changes to the state E911 board.

Almost everywhere in Vermont a road will have a formal street name, e.g., Main St, VT-100, US-5. There are a few places though where a road may only be known by its town highway number. If you encounter one of these you would name the street segment TH-nnn where nnn is the highway number.

Vermont Classes of Roads

Class Description
1 Roads that carry a state highway number within a town
2 Locally designated roads that typically connect neighboring towns or have higher amounts of traffic
3 All other town highways that are maintained for year-round use by pleasure cars
4 All other town highways - often with minimal maintenance and may not be plowed in the winter
Legal Trail Public rights of way that are not roads
Vermont Class 3 Roads
  • Almost always should use the Waze Local Street type
  • Quite often are unpaved
  • Many class 3 roads will transition into a class 4 road
Vermont Class 4 Roads

Vermont class 4 roads require editors to investigate the quality and purpose of the road to determine appropriate mapping. Many class 4 roads are not suitable for normal cars. Class 4 roads:

  • Normally receive no winter maintenance!
  • If mapped in WME should end at the last routable destination on the road, e.g., a HN, RPP or PP
  • Should not be drawn such that Waze will route traffic across them
  • Some class 4 roads are well maintained and are similar to class 3 roads - editors should use best judgement based on aerial views and local experience
  • In questionable situations always ask a state manager
Legal Trail and Other Classes

Legal Trail and other municipal classifications should not be mapped in WME. In some cases the original 2009 TIGER base map import into WME included these segments: they should be removed. The Vermont E911 Viewer and VTrans maps are good sources for verification.

Other Roads

Vermont also has numerous roads within the Green Mountain National Forest as well as numerous Vermont State and local parks and forests. While some of these have been mapped many have not. If you would like to work on editing in any of these areas please reach out to a State Manager to coordinate that activity:

  • Many of these roads are only open on a seasonal basis and we manually enter closures for each winter season
  • Careful coordination is needed to ensure that we do not route Waze traffic through forest roads

Railroad Crossings

In April 2020 Waze introduced railroad crossing (RRC) alerts. At its debut almost 400 grade crossings in Vermont were included. This feature is currently limited to editors R4 or above. If you encounter a grade crossing that has not been included and you believe it should please add it or reach out to an R4+ editor for assistance.

VTrans map of active Vermont rail lines: https://vtrans.vermont.gov/sites/aot/files/rail/Rail%20Contact%20Info%20Color%2011x17%2020190610.pdf

Miles Ownership Mark Railroad Owned/Operator
3.0 Private CN Canadian National
6.3 Private PAR Pan Am Railways
13.1 State WACR Washington County Railroad Vermont Railway
17.9 Private CLP Clarendon & Pittsford
24.4 Private CMQ Central Main and Quebec Railway (holdings)
30.7 Private SLR St Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad Genesee and Wyoming
50.0 State GMRC Green Mountain Railroad Corp
102.2 State WACR Washington County - CT River Division Vermont Railway
139.8 State VTR Vermont Railway
190.9 Private NECR New England Central Railroad Genesee and Wyoming

Notes:

  • Approximately 52 percent (305 of the 573) track miles in Vermont are state owned
  • The Twin State Railroad from St Johnsbury east to New Hampshire is closed and no longer in service
  • The GIS-L script displays railroad crossings (US section) and identifies if a crossing is at grade or above/below street level