Killington receives $18.4m USDA loan for Killington Road

By Polly Mikula

On Monday, Sept. 18, Killington Town Manager Michael Ramsey, received a letter approving the town for an $18,394,000 loan from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The letter was titled “FY23 Killington Forward – Killington Road Reconstruction Project.”

The total note was broken into two loans as each USDA loan is capped at $10 million — the first $9,394,000 and the other for $9 million —the rate for both notes is set at 3.625% for 30 year terms.

The town will draw on the loans as needed for the Phase 1A road project, which includes: East Mountain Road from the Grand Hotel through a roundabout to The Lookout Tavern. As well as East Mountain Road, Old Mill Road, and a new H Road that will go behind the Distillery and Pinnacle Condominiums. All roads are within the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district, which will pay the notes on the bonds per the development agreement.

“This $18,394,000 water and environmental program loan award from USDA is a significant step forward to constructing the road infrastructure needed to support the ski village,” the town of Killington said in a statement. “Now that funding is secured, we can focus efforts on design and implementation of a project that will have a huge impact on our region.”

The town received a preliminary estimate of   $17,120,258 from VHB for Phase 1A  last September, but is expecting updated plans and quotes soon. Once received, the town will put out a request for proposal for this portion of the project — likely in February/March — then select the awardee in April. Construction for this portion of the roads will begin in mid-July and be completed by next fall.

Selectman Jim Haff noted that in addition to the USDA loan, the town was also recently awarded a $2.25 million Catalyst Grant of which $1.25 million will be used for this portion of Killington Road and $1 million for municipal water.

Additionally, the state has put the Killington water and road projects up for consideration for an additional $750,000 in EDA partnership funding.

Phase 1B roadwork postponed

The second portion of the first phase of road work, Phase 1B, is located from Anthony Way to Route 4 — the lowest section of Killington Road, that ends with a steep hill. Plans call forblasting that hill to make a lower grade into the busy intersection and a sidewalk on the west side along with installing the dryline piping for future waterline. While originally planned for this fall, that work has been postponed to the spring due to delays related to the summer flooding, Selectman Jim Haff explained.

“It’ll now start up April 15 and must be completed by July 8,” Haff said, referring to the contracted timeframe.

Phase 1B was awarded to the lowest of five bidders in June. Markowski Engineering won the award at $2,679,851.29

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