diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7cfd2dfe..9743eeb9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ Read the v2 [migration guide](https://github.com/gboeing/osmnx/issues/1123)
 - drop Python 3.8 support (#1106)
 - bump minimum required numpy version to 1.22 for typing support (#1133 #1198)
 - bump minimum required versions of geopandas to 1.0 and pandas to 1.4 for union_all support (#1179 #1198)
+- replace gdal optional dependency with rio-vrt optional dependency (#1203)
 - improve docstrings throughout package (#1116)
 - improve logging and warnings throughout package (#1125)
 - improve error messages throughout package (#1131)
diff --git a/environments/docker/requirements.txt b/environments/docker/requirements.txt
index 03c575d1..4e0f82d2 100644
--- a/environments/docker/requirements.txt
+++ b/environments/docker/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 # basics
 osmnx
+rio-vrt
 python == 3.12.*
 
 # helpful extras
diff --git a/environments/tests/env-ci.yml b/environments/tests/env-ci.yml
index f2f916ba..b90b48d2 100644
--- a/environments/tests/env-ci.yml
+++ b/environments/tests/env-ci.yml
@@ -13,9 +13,9 @@ dependencies:
   - shapely
 
   # extras
-  - gdal
   - matplotlib
   - rasterio
+  - rio-vrt
   - scikit-learn
   - scipy
 
diff --git a/environments/tests/env-test-minimal.yml b/environments/tests/env-test-minimal.yml
index b5671f12..9f3825b1 100644
--- a/environments/tests/env-test-minimal.yml
+++ b/environments/tests/env-test-minimal.yml
@@ -17,9 +17,9 @@ dependencies:
   - shapely=2.0
 
   # extras (pinned to min versions from /pyproject.toml)
-  - gdal
   - matplotlib=3.5
   - rasterio=1.3
+  - rio-vrt=0.2
   - scikit-learn=0.23
   - scipy=1.5
 
diff --git a/osmnx/elevation.py b/osmnx/elevation.py
index d8ec0a83..91764b23 100644
--- a/osmnx/elevation.py
+++ b/osmnx/elevation.py
@@ -24,13 +24,13 @@
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from collections.abc import Iterable
 
-# rasterio and gdal are optional dependencies for raster querying
+# rasterio and rio-vrt are optional dependencies for raster querying
 try:
     import rasterio
-    from osgeo import gdal
+    from rio_vrt import build_vrt
 except ImportError:  # pragma: no cover
     rasterio = None
-    gdal = None
+    build_vrt = None
 
 
 def add_edge_grades(G: nx.MultiDiGraph, *, add_absolute: bool = True) -> nx.MultiDiGraph:
@@ -137,8 +137,8 @@ def add_node_elevations_raster(
     G
         Graph with `elevation` attributes on the nodes.
     """
-    if rasterio is None or gdal is None:  # pragma: no cover
-        msg = "gdal and rasterio must be installed as optional dependencies to query raster files."
+    if rasterio is None or build_vrt is None:  # pragma: no cover
+        msg = "rasterio and rio-vrt must be installed as optional dependencies to query rasters."
         raise ImportError(msg)
 
     if cpus is None:
@@ -153,8 +153,7 @@ def add_node_elevations_raster(
         filepaths = [str(p) for p in filepath]
         checksum = sha1(str(filepaths).encode("utf-8")).hexdigest()  # noqa: S324
         filepath = f"./.osmnx_{checksum}.vrt"
-        gdal.UseExceptions()
-        gdal.BuildVRT(filepath, filepaths).FlushCache()
+        build_vrt(filepath, filepaths)
 
     nodes = convert.graph_to_gdfs(G, edges=False, node_geometry=False)[["x", "y"]]
     if cpus == 1:
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 7b7208a8..0eb03ea1 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ requires-python = ">=3.9" # match classifiers above and ruff/mypy versions below
 [project.optional-dependencies]
 entropy = ["scipy>=1.5"]
 neighbors = ["scikit-learn>=0.23", "scipy>=1.5"]
-raster = ["gdal", "rasterio>=1.3"]
+raster = ["rasterio>=1.3", "rio-vrt>=0.2"]
 visualization = ["matplotlib>=3.5"]
 
 [project.urls]