(Bloomberg) -- New York’s controversial plan to charge drivers for entering Manhattan’s central business district starting on Sunday is facing a last-ditch challenge from neighboring New Jersey.
New Jersey went to court Friday to urge a federal judge to stop the congestion pricing plan’s launch while US transportation officials provide specifics from their environmental review of the project that he ordered earlier this week. The hearing in Newark caps a high-stakes showdown between the two states, with billions of dollars in toll revenue on the line for modernizing New York’s more than century-old transit system.
After hearing arguments for about an hour and 20 minutes, Judge Leo Gordon called a brief recess and said he would come back and advise the parties on “what comes next.”
The traffic control program, the first of its kind in the US, would charge $9 for most drivers entering Manhattan at 60th Street or below. It’s meant to help the Metropolitan Transportation Authority raise $15 billion for its vast and long-neglected network of subways, buses and commuter rails while reducing car and truck traffic and the pollution it creates.
New Jersey, which has called it a “brazen money grab,” argues the plan would increase congestion and tailpipe emissions on its own turf by pushing drivers onto the state’s highways and bridges to skirt the toll.
After surviving other legal challenges, the program was thrust into doubt on Monday when the judge ordered the federal transport officials to provide more information about their review and approval of the plan.
Launch or Freeze
In a 72-page opinion, Gordon rejected most of New Jersey’s claims against the program, while requiring the Federal Highway Administration to detail its review. He set a schedule for the process that stretches into February but didn’t address whether it required a delay of the plan’s Jan. 5 launch. That was the subject of Friday’s hearing.
New Jersey urged the judge to issue an emergency order delaying the launch until he reviews the information from the FHWA and decides on the state’s request to clarify or reconsider his decision.
The US Justice Department, representing the agency, argues that New Jersey is improperly trying to reargue issues Gordon has already decided. The “relatively minimal traffic increases” in some communities doesn’t warrant a halt to the plan, it said in court papers.
The MTA contends that New Jersey’s failure to raise new challenges before “the eleventh hour” invalidates its attempt to block the program.
New Jersey responded to the arguments in a court filing just a few hours before the hearing on Friday, claiming if congestion pricing goes forward on Sunday the state will suffer irreparable harm as a result of “traffic diversions, which, unmitigated, will cause increased air pollution in many New Jersey communities.”
Fierce Opposition
The congestion pricing plan has spurred fierce opposition from commuters, some environmental groups and even President-elect Donald Trump, who has called it a “massive business killer and tax on New Yorkers” and vowed to stop it. Federal judges have declined to block the program in legal challenges filed in New York.
Separately, the Long Island town of Hempstead sued in state court, alleging that New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s decision to restart the program after pausing it last year was an illegal attempt to push it through before Trump takes office. A judge has set a January hearing in that case.
Because of the litigation risks, the MTA was planning to commit only $2.9 billion for capital projects last year, a sharp drop from the $12 billion of work it could otherwise enter into. A victory over New Jersey in court could help it put those upgrades back on track.
The case is New Jersey v. US Department of Transportation, 23-cv-3885, US District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).
--With assistance from Chris Dolmetsch and Michelle Kaske.
(Updates with additional New Jersey filing in 10th paragraph)
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