NYC Congestion Pricing Gets Final Fed Green Light

NEW YORK CITY — Congestion pricing in New York City got the final green light from federal officials after a years-long, hard-fought battle.

The approval announced Monday effectively clears the lane for an MTA panel to set tolls to enter Manhattan below 60th Street — and could prove to be transformative for public transit, traffic and the air itself in the city, officials said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul likened the tolls — which likely will range from $9 to $23 — to a prescription for what ails the city.

"We're prescribing a decongestant," she said Tuesday. "We are going to be the very first state in the nation, the very first city in America, to have a congestion pricing plan."

Congestion pricing has long been a goal of MTA officials and environmentalists, albeit a controversial one.

The final approval from the federal government, first reported by the New York Times, came at the end of an environmental assessment process long-delayed by former President Donald Trump's administration.

Opponents, notably New Jersey lawmakers, have decried tolls as unfair to commuters and congestion pricing as a cash grab for the MTA, which would receive billions of dollars of funding from congestion pricing.

But supporters argued that the tolls will cut down on carbon emissions, pollution and reduce traffic by 20 percent in the densest parts of the city. It also will raise $1 billion a year for the MTA, they project.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber credited officials for standing up to the "car lobby."

He said New York City isn't affordable without mass transit, which less than 10 percent of it costs to own an automobile.

"If we're serious about equity in our city, people have opportunity because of mass transit," he said.

In the end, the approval effectively guarantees congestion pricing will go forward, but MTA officials still need to decide final tolls and when it'll begin.

Congestion pricing could start as soon as spring 2024, the New York Times reported.