(Bloomberg) -- New York’s plan to charge people driving on Manhattan’s traffic-clogged streets survived Governor Kathy Hochul’s five-month pause. Now a long-simmering legal challenge from New Jersey threatens to kill it.
Under the plan to ease congestion and pollution, starting on Jan. 5 most drivers will pay $9 to enter the tolling zone, which runs from 60th Street south to the tip of the island. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Monday approved the revised pricing, which Hochul reduced by 40% from $15 when she restarted the program last week.
But if a judge agrees with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy that the plan must undergo additional federal environmental review, that would almost certainly push the start date into the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who opposes congestion pricing. Trump, who is to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, could simply direct the Federal Highway Administration not to sign off on the revised program.
Trump, who was born and raised in the city and owns real estate in Manhattan, has called the toll a “massive business killer and tax on New Yorkers.” The plan, the first of its kind in the US, has spurred fierce opposition from some commuters and from New Jersey, which has called it a “brazen money grab.”
Battle on the Hudson
New Jersey sued the federal government last year, claiming it hadn’t done an adequate environmental review of the tolling program. Murphy claims the plan would increase congestion and pollution in his state on routes leading to bridges and tunnels — for example, by spurring some drivers to avoid the congestion tolling and use alternate routes like the George Washington Bridge or the Goethals Bridge.
The case has been ripe for a decision for months. During a two-day hearing in April, as the original June 30 start date approached, New Jersey urged Judge Leo M. Gordon to send the project back for further federal review. He hadn’t yet issued his decision when Hochul abruptly suspended congestion pricing weeks before it was set to begin.
On Tuesday, New Jersey filed a letter to Gordon nudging him to rule, saying the program’s new start date “only underscores the need for a decision here” and suggesting the state might seek an emergency order blocking the plan.
Hochul now needs the Federal Highway Administration to approve the new, $9 tolling structure and to sign an agreement with the state and the city before the program can begin. It’s unclear she would prevail under Trump. He has called the toll a “regressive tax” that would hurt workers, families and businesses, and his first administration stalled it by not directing the MTA on the type of environmental analysis needed for federal approval.
Murphy says he is “firmly opposed” to pushing congestion pricing through before Trump is sworn in. His lawyers have urged the judge to rule and said lowering the toll doesn’t resolve the “defects” in the environmental review process.
World’s Worst Traffic
New York’s plan was designed to reduce traffic and pollution while raising money for the city’s subways, buses and commuter rails. The city is the world’s most congested urban area, according to INRIX Inc., a traffic data analysis firm.
The MTA, which operates the city’s transit network and is implementing the toll, will sell bonds to be repaid with the new revenue. It says it expects congestion pricing to provide $15 billion to modernize signals, add elevators to stations and extend the Second Avenue subway to Harlem.
In pausing the program ahead of the election, Hochul cited the $15 hit to workers. Now the plan will charge drivers with E-ZPass $9 during peak hours. But the revised program keeps the toll at $9 for only three years, with an increase to $12 in 2028 and to the original $15 in 2031.
The MTA has fired back with its own critique of New Jersey Transit’s chronic delays and long service disruptions as the commuter rail system struggles to provide service with aging equipment. It’s also a victim of Amtrak’s infrastructure failures, especially during hot weather, as New Jersey Transit relies on Amtrak rails to enter Manhattan.
“If Governor Murphy wants to mess around with transit, he should start by making the trains run, so his own constituents have a way to get to jobs, healthcare and everywhere else from his side of the river,” John McCarthy, head of MTA’s communications, said in a statement Thursday.
The case is New Jersey v. US Department of Transportation, 23-cv-3885, US District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).
(Updates with letter New Jersey sent judge on Tuesday in second section.)
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