NYC Congestion Pricing Cleared by Judge for Sunday Launch
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NYC congestion pricing cleared by judge for Sunday launch
Bob Van Voris and Michelle Kaske
5 min read
(Bloomberg) -- New York’s controversial plan to charge drivers entering Manhattan’s central business district was cleared by a federal judge to take effect on Sunday, in a blow to efforts by neighboring New Jersey to derail the congestion toll.
Judge Leo Gordon on Friday rejected New Jersey’s request for a pause while the Federal Highway Administration responds to his order for more information on efforts to address the plan’s potential impact on traffic patterns and pollution in the Garden State.
The ruling, issued after an extended hearing in Newark, caps a high-stakes showdown between the two states, with billions of dollars in toll revenue on the line for modernizing New York’s more than century-old transit system.
New Jersey’s lawyer said the state will file an emergency appeal.
“We respectfully disagree with the trial court’s decision” not to halt the program, attorney Randy Mastro said in a statement. He added, referring to a decision Gordon issued Monday, “The judge found that the Federal Highway Administration acted arbitrarily and capriciously in approving the MTA’s plan and that insufficient environmental mitigation commitments were made to New Jersey.”
The congestion pricing plan has spurred fierce opposition from elected officials, neighborhood groups and even President-elect Donald Trump, who is set to take office on Jan. 20 and has vowed to stop it. New Jersey argued the plan would increase congestion and pollution by drivers looking to avoid the toll by using its bridges as alternate routes.
Friday’s ruling comes after a detailed decision Monday in which Gordon dismissed most of New Jersey’s concerns but ordered the US to provide the extra information by Jan. 17 and set deadlines for further court filings into February.
Irreparable Harm
At the hearing, Mastro argued to Gordon that the state’s residents would suffer irreparable harm if the program goes forward on schedule.
“The minute they flip the switch there will be increased pollution, increased chronic disease. That is an outrage and you need to stop it now,” he said, adding that “New Jersey lives are literally at stake.”
The MTA’s attorney, Elizabeth Knauer, told the judge that delaying the program would harm the transit system.
“It’s not just the money, but the delay in critical projects,” she said.
Gordon showed impatience with Mastro. At one point, the lawyer signaled that he wanted to speak during Knauer’s argument.
“You had your bite at the apple, Mr. Mastro,” the judge said. “You got it?”
Following arguments from the parties, Gordon adjourned the hearing for almost four hours. During that time he called the legal teams into chambers for private discussions, sometimes as a group, sometimes by individual party. The judge did not disclose what was addressed in these sessions. Several participants declined to say.
‘Serious Disruption’
The judge concluded that halting the program right before its scheduled launch would be a “serious disruption.”
Gordon ruled that his request for clarification from FHWA was addressed to a “limited, discrete set of issues” and did not require a delay. He said any harms to New Jersey could be dealt with by devoting additional money to addressing pollution or traffic problems caused by the program, ruling that the state had failed to show irreparable harm or a likelihood it would succeed in blocking the program without an injunction.
The program, under the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, would charge $9 for most drivers entering Manhattan at 60th Street or below. It was designed to reduce traffic and pollution while raising $15 billion for the city’s subways, buses and commuter rails.
The plan had been due to start in June, before New York Governor Kathy Hochul indefinitely postponed it, citing inflation and financial pressures on workers — only to announce after November’s election that she was relaunching it with a toll of $9 instead of $15.
New Jersey called the plan a “brazen money grab.” The state challenged the federal government’s conclusion that it would have no significant effect on the environment and sued to force the FHWA, which approved the project, to do a broader review.
In his decision Monday, the judge rejected the argument that federal officials failed to assess environmental justice concerns in certain communities. But he found that the federal assessments “fail to provide a rational connection” between mitigation plans and how they resolve any environmental harms in New York or New Jersey.
Wave of Litigation
Legal challenges to congestion pricing were also filed in New York, where two other federal judges declined to block it. Those lawsuits included groups representing a variety of city residents, workers and business owners. Unsuccessful bids to block the program were also brought by Rockland and Orange counties.
Separately, the Long Island town of Hempstead sued in state court, alleging that Hochul’s decision to restart the program was an illegal attempt to push it through before Trump takes office. A judge has set a Jan. 16 hearing in that case.
“The point is to make the city better, for everybody,” Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chief executive officer, told reporters after Friday’s ruling at a press conference at MTA’s headquarters. “We need to make it easier for people who choose to drive or who have to drive to get around the city, to spend less time in traffic.”
Trump has called the program a “massive business killer and tax on New Yorkers.” New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has warned that the incoming administration could try to end the program through litigation or administrative action.
The case is New Jersey v. US Department of Transportation, 23-cv-3885, US District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).
--With assistance from Chris Dolmetsch.
(Updates with New Jersey lawyer vowing to file appeal in fourth paragraph.)
