New York’s plan to toll motorists in Manhattan below 60th St. took a big step forward Friday when the Federal Highway Administration signed off on the MTA’s environmental assessment of the plan.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials confirmed the issuance of the “letter of legal sufficiency,” a copy of which was obtained by the Daily News. The letter triggers a final public review process expected to lead to a final federal OK for the project.
“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,” the MTA’s external relations chief, John McCarthy, said in a statement confirming receipt of the letter.
The long-delayed congestion pricing plan, which is required by state law to finance $15 billion of the MTA’s capital plan, is now expected to take effect in April 2024, an agency official told The News.
Under the plan, vehicles in the lower-Manhattan congestion zone will pay an electronically-collected toll.
In addition to funding the MTA’s capital projects, the congestion pricing plan also seeks to shift more travelers to public transit, mitigating traffic congestion and pollution. Similar plans are in place in London, Stockholm and other cities.
The Federal Highway Administration letter effectively accepts the MTA’s own environmental assessment, and kicks off a timeline that includes a week for the issuance of a so-called “draft finding of no significant [environmental] impact.”
At the end of next week, a 30-day public availability period begins, allowing the public to review the MTA’s environmental assessment before the expected issuance of a “final finding of no significant impact.”
After that, MTA contractors have 310 days to install the necessary tolling infrastructure.
Though Friday’s letter is a major milestone, many details still need to be sorted out.
The toll…
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