STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Anyone driving into lower Manhattan will soon have to pay a hefty fee after the federal government okayed the state’s congestion pricing plan Friday.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Chief of External Relations John McCarthy issued a statement saying the agency had received a needed and long-awaited letter of legal sufficiency from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) saying they could move ahead with the controversial plan.
“Congestion pricing is a generational opportunity to make it easier for people to get around in, and get to, the Central Business District, by reducing traffic and funding improvements to the public transit system,” McCarthy said. “To do it right, environmental equity has been an integral component. We are grateful that the FHWA has acknowledged the Project Sponsors’ efforts to date and has found the document has met the standards for legal sufficiency.”
A spokesperson for the FHWA confirmed that the agency cleared the project’s sponsors in New York to move forward with congestion pricing that could charge motorists as much as $23 for entering Manhattan below 61st Street.
Opposition to the plan has reached across the political spectrum with some on the left raising concerns about the impact the plan would have on historically-disadvantaged communities, which could see more traffic as drivers shift to parts of the city, like the South Bronx to avoid the toll, and those on the right labeling the plan as the latest unfair tax burden placed on residents in the metropolitan area.
On Friday, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn), one of the plan’s harshest critics, issued her latest statement taking aim at President Joseph Biden, whose Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg oversees the FHWA.
“It’s disappointing but no surprise that the Biden Administration would help the MTA fleece New Yorkers with another $23 toll without even requiring a full and thorough environmental…
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