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A multimillion-dollar federal grant supporting renovations to Butler Avenue and Fourth Street on the east side of Flagstaff could be in jeopardy after President Donald Trump’s new Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy ordered his department to review -- and potentially revoke -- all discretionary grants that include funding for bike lanes.

On Jan. 10, the City of Flagstaff announced the award of $19 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program.

That RAISE grant is supposed to provide the majority of the funding for a suite of safety and multimodal improvements along sections of Butler Avenue and Fourth Street southeast of Interstate 40, including off-street bike and pedestrian pathways.

But on Wednesday, March 12, the transportation-focused website Streetsblog USA that Duffy’s office had sent an internal memo ordering a review of all discretionary grants related to equity, climate change, environmental justice, electric vehicles or “green infrastructure� -- including bike lanes.

The memo states that any awards that incorporate these elements could be modified or “canceled entirely.�

The Arizona Daily Sun reached out to the City of Flagstaff inquiring about the status of the city’s grant on Thursday, March 13. Flagstaff City Council was scheduled to discuss an application for state funding to complement the federal grant at its meeting on Tuesday, and the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) review came up during that discussion.

“Do we feel confident that the RAISE grant, that we’re still going to get it?� Mayor Becky Daggett asked engineering senior project manager Ann Taylor during that conversation. “You haven’t heard anything about those funds turning out to not be available?�

Taylor said she had not. Joanne Keene, deputy city manager, confirmed, however, that the city’s grant is among those under review by USDOT.

“We did receive notification last week from DOT that they are reviewing all of the RAISE grants, and our grant is one of them,� Keene said. “Our team is working on providing additional information, but we do feel good about our submittal.�

“Thank you. That’s a huge relief,� Daggett replied.

City staff will proceed with an application to the Arizona State Match Advantage for Rural Transportation (AZ SMART) fund, requesting $3.8 million toward the total project cost of approximately $31 million. Per the terms of the RAISE grant, the city is required to fund $10 million of the project, known as “local match.� If approved, the AZ SMART grant would be applied to that $10 million local match, reducing the city’s financial obligation.

Public Affairs Director Sarah Langley said the city had no additional comment on the status of the grant or project beyond Keene’s summary of the situation.

When asked about the USDOT grant review, a spokesperson for Sen. Mark Kelly said, “Sen. Kelly firmly opposes any effort to undermine transportation investments that enhance safety and expand options for Arizonans. Projects like Flagstaff’s maximize federal funding by tackling multiple priorities at once � widening roadways, reducing crashes and protecting pedestrians and cyclists. Cities across Arizona earned these competitive grants by proposing smart, cost-effective solutions that meet local needs. Pulling these investments now would be both wrong and fiscally irresponsible.�

And a spokesperson for Sen. Ruben Gallego’s office stated, “Unelected billionaires are cutting funding and creating chaos for local municipalities and working-class Arizonans who want new transit options. These threats to cancel federal transportation grants are nothing more than an attempt to sow confusion and disruption for our communities. And, unfortunately, that’s exactly what they’re doing."

The Butler Avenue and Fourth Street project was among 109 projects nationwide funded by the first round of 2025 RAISE awards. Flagstaff has been planning updates to the sections of those roads southeast of I-40 since 2022, and it originally applied for a RAISE grant in 2023. Though not selected in that round of grant applications, the project scored high enough to be allowed to reapply in 2024. 

As of January, the project was still in the design phase, with an anticipated construction start date of June 2026.