Traffic entering the Holland Tunnel from Jersey City, NJ.
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A federal judge heard oral arguments from the Biden administration, the MTA, and the state of New Jersey on Wednesday in the Garden State’s lawsuit seeking to overturn congestion pricing, as the fate of the Manhattan tolling program and the mass transit improvements it would fund hang in the balance.
Technically, the object at issue in the lawsuit is whether the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) undertook a thorough enough environmental review of the program, which was approved last week would levy a $15 toll on most motorists entering Manhattan south of 60th Street, with overnight discounts and crossing credits on bridges and tunnels already fitted with tolls.
The MTA hopes to have the program up and running by June and begin using toll revenue to fund its capital program; new contracts for construction work are now suspended as litigation weaves through federal court.
Randy Mastro, the prominent trial litigator retained by New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, told Judge Leo Gordon that the MTA’s environmental assessment was not, in fact, adequate for the “unprecedented” tolling scheme, and called for the court to rescind the FHWA’s approval for it.
The FHWA “worked backwards to reach a predetermined outcome in New York’s favor,” argued Mastro, a former deputy mayor under the Giuliani administration.
The MTA was allowed by the feds to conduct an “environmental assessment” for the program instead of a more thorough “environmental impact statement.” Last year, the feds issued a “finding of no significant impact” on the environment from the proposal, effectively giving the green light provided certain investments were made to mitigate the impacts of increased traffic in the Bronx and other areas as motorists diverted course from the central business district tolling area.
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