NYC Congestion Pricing Delayed At Least 1 Year: MTA Exec

NEW YORK, NY — Plans to build implement a congestion pricing system in Manhattan by the start of 2021 are all but off the table, and the initiative may not even be ready until the following year, one of the MTA's top executives said this week.

MTA Chief Development Officer Janno Lieber said in an interview with the Manhattan Institute that inaction by the federal government is throwing a wrench in the MTA's plan to build out the tolling system, which would charge drivers a fee for entering Manhattan below 60th Street. The MTA needs to complete a federal environmental review process because the federal government funded the creation of many New York City roadways including the West Side Highway, Lieber said.

Lieber described the unhelpful attitude of the feds toward congestion pricing as "so frustrating" during the interview. Efforts to reach out to federal officials to start the approval process have been largely ignored, Lieber said.

"We’ve literally hired the consultants. We’ve designed the systems, the cameras and so on that are going to be implemented. We just can’t move forward without the Trump Administration’s action," Lieber said.

The MTA executive estimated that it will take about one year to construct the congestion pricing infrastructure after obtaining federal approval. The congestion pricing plan itself does not require any federal funding, and The MTA has already assigned a major contract to design, install and maintain the tolling system.

State lawmakers voted to implement a congestion charge that will affect passenger vehicles entering Manhattan below 60th Street in 2019. The proposal was backed by city officials including Mayor Bill de Blasio, who for a long time opposed congestion pricing.

The exact fee will be decided by a body known as the Traffic Mobility Review Board, which the MTA claims isn't required to follow open meetings laws.