diff --git a/lib/ansible/module_utils/aws/waiters.py b/lib/ansible/module_utils/aws/waiters.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c8f9157dbc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/ansible/module_utils/aws/waiters.py
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# Copyright: (c) 2018, Ansible Project
+# GNU General Public License v3.0+ (see COPYING or https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt)
+try:
+    import botocore.waiter as core_waiter
+except ImportError:
+    pass  # caught by HAS_BOTO3
+
+
+ec2_data = {
+    "version": 2,
+    "waiters": {
+        "RouteTableExists": {
+            "delay": 5,
+            "maxAttempts": 40,
+            "operation": "DescribeRouteTables",
+            "acceptors": [
+                {
+                    "matcher": "path",
+                    "expected": True,
+                    "argument": "length(RouteTables[]) > `0`",
+                    "state": "success"
+                },
+                {
+                    "matcher": "error",
+                    "expected": "InvalidRouteTableID.NotFound",
+                    "state": "retry"
+                }
+            ]
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+
+def model_for(name):
+    ec2_models = core_waiter.WaiterModel(waiter_config=ec2_data)
+    return ec2_models.get_waiter(name)
+
+
+waiters_by_name = {
+    ('EC2', 'route_table_exists'): lambda ec2: core_waiter.Waiter(
+        'route_table_exists',
+        model_for('RouteTableExists'),
+        ec2.describe_route_tables)
+}
+
+
+def get_waiter(client, waiter_name):
+    try:
+        return waiters_by_name[(client.__class__.__name__, waiter_name)](client)
+    except KeyError:
+        raise NotImplementedError("Waiter {0} could not be found for client {1}. Available waiters: {2}".format(
+            waiter_name, type(client), ', '.join(repr(k) for k in waiters_by_name.keys())))
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_vpc_route_table.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_vpc_route_table.py
index 0222dd579ee..29c33c7fc17 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_vpc_route_table.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/amazon/ec2_vpc_route_table.py
@@ -226,6 +226,7 @@ route_table:
 import re
 from time import sleep
 from ansible.module_utils.aws.core import AnsibleAWSModule
+from ansible.module_utils.aws.waiters import get_waiter
 from ansible.module_utils.ec2 import ec2_argument_spec, boto3_conn, get_aws_connection_info
 from ansible.module_utils.ec2 import ansible_dict_to_boto3_filter_list
 from ansible.module_utils.ec2 import camel_dict_to_snake_dict, snake_dict_to_camel_dict
@@ -649,11 +650,11 @@ def ensure_route_table_present(connection, module):
             try:
                 route_table = connection.create_route_table(VpcId=vpc_id)['RouteTable']
                 # try to wait for route table to be present before moving on
-                for attempt in range(5):
-                    if not get_route_table_by_id(connection, module, route_table['RouteTableId']):
-                        sleep(2)
-                    else:
-                        break
+                get_waiter(
+                    connection, 'route_table_exists'
+                ).wait(
+                    RouteTableIds=[route_table['RouteTableId']],
+                )
             except (botocore.exceptions.ClientError, botocore.exceptions.BotoCoreError) as e:
                 module.fail_json_aws(e, msg="Error creating route table")
         else: