NEWARK — Congestion pricing for drivers entering lower and midtown Manhattan will — most likely — start Jan. 5.
After more than four hours of deliberation Friday, Judge Leo M. Gordon rejected New Jersey’s request to halt the start of the controversial tolling program that will hit passenger cars entering Manhattan through the Lincoln and Holland tunnels with a $9 toll at peak hours.
Gordon’s clarification came less than 48 hours before the new toll program is scheduled to begin and four days after he released a 70-page decision on New Jersey’s suit to block the program that failed to say one way or the other about whether the program could proceed.
Randy Mastro, the attorney representing New Jersey, asked Gordon to consider a five-day delay of the program, which Gordon denied, but he said the Garden State could still make an appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals over the weekend.
Gordon’s Friday clarification came after both sides of the litigation declared victory when his initial decision was released earlier this week, causing confusion about whether the $9 toll to enter Manhattan below 60th Street would go into effect Sunday as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority planned.
Gordon disagreed with four of New Jersey’s six central allegations made in court documents and oral arguments in April. New Jersey accused the Federal Highway Administration of violating federal law by not requiring the MTA to do a more thorough study of the potential environmental and other impacts of the plan and arbitrarily committing money for mitigation of any impacts in New York, but not in New Jersey.
The FHWA and MTA say they followed the law when submitting and approving a more than 8,000-page study of the potential impacts of congestion pricing.
Wants feds to revisit financial commitments to mitigate toll impacts
A congestion pricing scanner is shown above the north-bound side of Broadway, between West 60th and 61st St. in Manhattan, Thursday, November 2, 2023
Gordon has requested the FHWA to revisit the financial commitments for mitigation and wanted to further examine issues surrounding considering alternative tolling plans and changes made to phase in an eventual $15 toll. Final responses are due Feb. 11, 2025.
It was this issue that Gordon spent most of Friday agonizing over and repeatedly called the lawyers back into chambers before finally concluding that “the harm at issue here is one of money,” and therefore felt the money owed to New Jersey could be determined at a later date without causing “irreparable harm.”
The congestion pricing path has been a long and twisted one since the New York legislature passed a law in 2019 requiring the MTA to craft a tolling program that would raise $15 billion for the agency’s public transportation capital plan, reduce Manhattan traffic congestion and improve air quality.
What NJ drivers should know: NYC congestion pricing is set to start Jan. 5
Aside from the New Jersey lawsuit, there are numerous other lawsuits still making their way through the courts to attempt to dismantle the plan. And President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to end it.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul had paused the program less than a month before it was set to begin in June. She revived it shortly after the November elections, and after that was in talks with New Jersey to try to settle the lawsuit, but the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement.
Hochul said they made “generous” offers, but she accused New Jersey of not negotiating in good faith. A spokesperson for Gov. Phil Murphy declined to comment.
Ahead of the clarification Friday, supporters and detractors were making their voices heard.
Supporters of congestion pricing staged a rally outside the Newark courthouse calling for New Jersey to end its litigation, saying it would prop up the MTA’s subway, bus and commuter rail system, improve the environment and reduce traffic.
Meanwhile, the union chapter representing EMTs and paramedics in Manhattan advised members to transfer to outer-borough stations. Fire Department of New York EMTs earn just under $19 per hour and are the lowest paid of the city’s first responders.
“Members are routinely assigned to midnight shifts, often compelled without notice by the FDNY to work double tours, so most EMS members cannot rely on public transit to commute to their stations,” said Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS Local 2507, in a statement.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Manhattan congestion pricing to start Sunday despite NJ pleas