The city wants to charge a variable daily page for vehicles entering or remaining in the central business district, defined as between 60th Street in midtown Manhattan and Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan.
New York, which has the most congested traffic in the United States, would become the first major American city following London, which began applying a similar charge in 2003.
New York lawmakers approved the plan in 2019, and it was originally scheduled to begin in 2021. But the federal government under President Donald Trump has not acted on it.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), which must approve the move, said Wednesday it had approved the required environmental assessment. The agency will consider public comments submitted by September 9.
She didn’t give a timeline for her decision, but the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) said the fees could go into effect up to 10 months after approval. This period would be devoted to the design and implementation of the system.
“Congestion pricing is good for the environment, good for public transportation, and good for New York and the region,” said MTA CEO Janno Lieber.
Passenger vehicle drivers could pay anywhere from $9 to $23 to enter at peak times, while night pages could be as low as $5. Drivers could apply existing bridges and tunnels pages to congestion pages.
The environmental assessment released Wednesday found that the page would reduce traffic, improve air quality, make buses more reliable and increase public transit use by 1-2%. The page would generate 1 to 1.5 billion dollars a year and would finance 15 billion dollars of debt for the improvement of public transport.
Riders Alliance, a public transport advocacy group, backed the move and said congestion pricing “can’t happen soon enough”.
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