New Jersey Governor Seeks to Stop NYC Congestion Pricing

New Jersey Governor Philip D. Murphy is asking President Biden to put the brakes on New York City’s congestion pricing project, which would be the first in the country, calling for a more thorough environmental impact study and accusing the MTA of a “cash grab.”

According to a New York Times article by Tracey Tully, Ana Ley, and Patrick McGeehan, “Mr. Murphy has said that New Jersey residents were not properly consulted about the plan, and he has argued that it would harm people who ‘cannot afford to live in Manhattan and must travel great lengths to reach their workplace.’”

As proposed, “The new congestion fees would come in addition to tunnel and bridge tolls and apply to vehicles entering Manhattan between 60th Street and the Battery. Vehicles traveling along the F.D.R. Drive and the West Side Highway would not be charged the toll.”

Proponents of the program say the federal government likely won’t delay it further. “Any additional federal review would come on top of an already completed assessment and, if granted, would almost certainly delay the ambitious project that is expected to bolster the struggling Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bottom line while getting people out of cars and onto mass transit.”

The dispute is one of several over transportation between the two states. Earlier this year, after New Jersey proposed a bill to bar New York from enforcing speed camera citations against New Jersey drivers, New York proposed bills that would charge New Jersey drivers $50 to enter New York City. In 2010, former governor Chris Christie “canceled a fully funded tunnel under the Hudson River that was a precursor to the Gateway tunnel project now expected to take another 13 years.”