(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Department of Transportation said the Federal Highway Administration has “terminated approval” of New York City’s congestion pricing plan, the first of its kind in the nation, which went into effect earlier this year.
The DOT shared a letter from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, in which he said a review found that the “scope of this pilot project as approved exceeds the authority authorized by Congress” under the Federal Highway Administration’s Value Pricing Pilot Program.
“New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” Duffy said in a statement on Wednesday. “Commuters using the highway system to enter New York City have already financed the construction and improvement of these highways through the payment of gas taxes and other taxes. But now the toll program leaves drivers without any free highway alternative, and instead, takes more money from working people to pay for a transit system and not highways. It’s backwards and unfair.”
In response to the letter, a New York state official said that whatever the Trump administration intends, the state will fight in court to preserve congestion pricing.
The congestion pricing plan, which launched on Jan. 5, newly charged passenger vehicles $9 to access Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours as part of an effort to ease congestion and raise funds for the city’s public transit system. During peak hours, small trucks and charter buses were charged $14.40 and large trucks and tour buses $21.60.
On Donald Trump’s first day in office, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy asked the president and his administration to “reexamine” the highly debated congestion pricing plan and its impact on the Garden State.
In a letter to Trump, Murphy requested that “New York’s congestion pricing scheme receive the close look it deserved but did not receive from the federal government last year.”
In his letter to Hochul, Duffy noted that Trump asked him to review the Federal Highway Administration’s approval of the congestion pricing program upon assuming his position as secretary last month.
“In particular, the President expressed his concerns about the extent of the tolling that was approved by the Department of Transportation on highways that have been constructed with funds under the Federal-aid Highway Program and the significant burdens on the New York City residents, businesses, and area commuters (including those from New Jersey and Connecticut) who regularly use the highway network in the CBD tolling area,” Duffy said.
Duffy also mentioned Murphy’s letter to Trump, in which the governor “expressed significant concerns about the impacts that the imposition of tolls” on New Jersey commuters and residents.
The secretary also said there are pending legal challenges over the plan “which question whether the scope of the project exceeds the authority of VPPP.”
Duffy said the Federal Highway Administration will contact the New York State Department of Transportation “to discuss the orderly cessation of toll operations under this terminated pilot project.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which manages the city’s subways as well as bridges and commuter rails, has said the toll would enable it to issue $15 billion in bonds to help fund capital projects.
In response to Murphy’s letter to Trump, Hochul told reporters that if the congestion pricing plan is ultimately killed, “that comes with $15 billion more” the federal government will need to give to New York.
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