By Polly Mikula
Killington was awarded a $25 million federal RAISE grant with an additional $1 million local match to reconstruct Killington Road but those funds are now suspended per President Trump’s executive order to pause all funding for programs that include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), Killington Town Planner Lisa Davis Lewis told the Select Board Monday night, Feb. 10.
“The town is now in a bit of a risky situation,” she said, noting that there is a strict timeline for the town to complete the work to be eligible for grants received and no indication that the timeline will be extended because of the federal pause.
“So do we spend the $1 million in hopes that the federal pause on the $25 million becomes available in time?” she asked the board.
The Select Board decided to wait and see what future guidance and changes happen to the program in the coming weeks as the decision doesn’t need to be made immediately.
“Equity” was part of the RAISE grant mission (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity). However, the grant has since been renamed The BUILD program (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development). The purpose of the federal funding remains the same: to support surface transportation infrastructure projects with significant local or regional impact, pursuing multi-modal projects that are more difficult to fund through other grant programs, according to the U.S. Dept. of Transportation.
The Jan. 27 executive order states, in part: “Federal agencies must temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance, and other relevant agency activities that may be implicated by the executive orders, including… DEI… Each agency must pause: (i) issuance of new awards; (ii) disbursement of Federal funds under all open awards; and (iii) other relevant agency actions that may be implicated by the executive orders, to the extent permissible by law.”
Trump states that the reason for this pause is cost saving: “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”
Killington’s $25 million project
The town of Killington was awarded the $25 federal grant on June 26, 2024, to engineer and construct Phase 2-4 of its Killington Forward development — a multi-modal project serving a large population that has proved difficult to fund due to the size, cost and limited tax base of the small mountain town.
Phase 2-4 funds Killington Road improvements from The Lookout to Anthony Way. It includes removing the high-speed right-turn slip lane at West Hill Road and replacing it with a new right turn lane, possibly three new traffic lights and pedestrian crossings with about half a dozen crosswalks planned along the road with rectangular rapid flashing beacons at locations lacking a traffic light. Bus pullouts and shelters will also be constructed.
An 8-foot wide shared use path will be built along the full length of the west side of Killington Road (approximately 2.7 miles) and a new 6-foot wide sidewalk will be built on the east side from West Hill Road to the Wobbly Barn (1.4 miles) where possible and within the town’s right of way.
“We have up until Sept. 30, 2028, to begin construction and then we have five years to complete construction,” Davis Lewis, who wrote the RAISE grant application, said when announcing the award.
(The waterline through that section will be constructed prior, pending the approval of Article 4 bond on Town Meeting Day, see story on page 1, and will funded through a State Revolving Fund loan.)
