Dive Brief:
- U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy threatened to withhold funding and approvals for highway projects in Manhattan in an April 21 letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul if the state's congestion pricing program isn’t stopped by May 21.
- Failing compliance, Duffy said the Federal Highway Administration would halt environmental approvals and advance construction authorizations for projects in the borough of Manhattan, except for safety projects. The DOT would also withhold approvals of statewide Transportation Improvement Program amendments concerning the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, which could halt funds for regional projects.
- The state isn’t backing down. “Traffic is down, business is up and the cameras are staying on,” a spokesperson for Hochul told New York news outlets in response to the letter.
Dive Insight:
Early data show the congestion pricing program, which charges a toll to drivers entering Manhattan at or below 60th Street, producing benefits for traffic flow and public transit use.
Traffic in Manhattan’s central business district declined 11% in February compared to the same month last year, according to a March 21 press release from the governor’s office. Bus and subway ridership grew in January and February over the same period in 2024, along with increased ridership on the Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road.
The Regional Plan Association calculated the economic benefit of faster travel times for commuters at $500 million to $1.3 billion. “Traffic is down, business is up, and New Yorkers are breathing easier,” the Congestion Pricing Now Coalition said in an email statement today. “By every measure, the Congestion Relief Program is delivering exactly what it promised: faster commutes, cleaner air, and real investment in the transit system that powers our economy.” The coalition includes the RPA along with transit riders, civic and business groups and other advocates.
The Trump administration remains opposed to New York’s first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program. “President Trump and I will not sit back while Governor Hochul engages in class warfare and prices working-class Americans out of accessing New York City,” Duffy said in a statement. “The federal government sends billions to New York—but we won’t foot the bill if Governor Hochul continues to implement an illegal toll to backfill the budget of New York’s failing transit system. We are giving New York one last chance to turn back or prove their actions are not illegal.”
The tolling program, which was enacted as state law in 2019 and received the FHWA’s authorization under former President Joe Biden in 2023, was canceled by the Trump administration on Feb. 19. The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority responded by filing a lawsuit against Duffy, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration.
In response to Duffy’s latest action, MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said in an April 21 statement, “we have received Secretary Duffy’s letter setting yet another new deadline and are evaluating MTA’s legal options, given that the legal issues raised in the letter are already appropriately before a federal judge.” He added, “In the meantime, cameras are staying on.”
The New York state DOT, New York City DOT, Sierra Club and Riders Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy organization, later joined the lawsuit.
Danny Pearlstein, policy and communications director at Riders Alliance, said in an emailed statement, “while the secretary levels baseless accusations and illegal threats, New York keeps saving bus riders time and raising essential funds to upgrade our aging subway. Our congestion relief program was duly enacted, fully vetted and is here to stay.”
