Skip to main content

NYC Congestion Pricing

Recently, the plan for congestion pricing in New York City, specifically within the Borough of Manhattan, was approved by the New York City Council.  Congestion pricing would charge most drivers $8 for the privilege to drive south of 60th St. between 6am and 6pm during the weekdays.  Trucks, taxis and other vehicles may pay different rates, and there are a number of exemptions as well.  The congesting pricing plan is meant to encourage the use of mass transit.

But of course, as things tend to happen in New York State, this plan must be approved by the New York State Legislature in order for the City to get $354 million in federal grants that would used in order to finance congestion pricing.  However, with several state legislators based in downstate New York in opposition to the plan, getting congestion pricing through may be easier said than done.

The state legislature has a deadline of midnight on Monday, April 7, 2008 to approve the congestion pricing plan.  Governor David Paterson, who is said to approve of congestion pricing, has called for the legislature to work on the state budget (which has since passed the annual due date of April 1st) for the weekend, which may hurt the chances of the plan being passed.  If the plan is approved, New York City would be the first city in the United States to have congestion pricing.

I support congestion pricing in New York City, as well as other cities, but I believe the plan is not ambitious enough.  The original plan called for congestion pricing south of 96th St. in Manhattan, which would have worked out well.  Also, if congestion pricing does take effect in New York City, and is proven to be successful, watch for congestion pricing to be implemented in other cities, such as Boston and Washington.

http://tinyurl.com/6kh2wj - Albany Times Union article (4/5/08, via the AP)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_congestion_pricing - Wikipedia

Comments

Anonymous said…
Congestion pricing is absolutely wrong and immoral, especially in NY City, where Manhattan connects LI to the mainland of the USA. The Bronx ans Staten Island already have enough traffic carrying vehicles in/out of LI. Eithe way, it is wrong.

Popular posts from this blog

Chowchilla Mountain Road to Yosemite National Park

Chowchilla Mountain Road of Mariposa County is one of the oldest roadways servicing Yosemite National Park.  As presently configured this fourteen-mile highway begins at California State Route 49 near Elliot Corner and terminates at the Wawona Road in Yosemite National Park.  Chowchilla Mountain Road was constructed as a franchise toll road over Battalion Pass circa 1869-1870.  The highway was built at behest of Galen Clark to connect the town of Mariposa to his property near the South Fork Merced River at what is now Wawona.   In late 1874 the highway along with Clark’s Station would be purchased by the Washburn Brothers.  The Washburn Brothers would continue to toll Chowchilla Mountain Road as part of their Yosemite Stage Route lines.  The highway would ultimately become a Mariposa County public highway in 1917.  Mariposa would later be more directly linked with Yosemite Valley in 1926 following the completion of the Yosemite All-Year Highwa...

Interstate 40's Tumultuous Ride Through the Pigeon River Gorge

In the nearly 60 years Interstate 40 has been open to traffic through the Pigeon River Gorge in the mountains of Western North Carolina, it has been troubled by frequent rockslides and damaging flooding, which has seen the over 30-mile stretch through North Carolina and Tennessee closed for months at a time. Most recently, excessive rainfall from Hurricane Helene in September 2024 saw sections of Interstate 40 wash away into a raging Pigeon River. While the physical troubles of Interstate 40 are well known, how I-40 came to be through the area is a tale of its own. Interstate 40 West through Haywood County near mile marker 10. I-40's route through the Pigeon River Gorge dates to local political squabbles in the 1940s and a state highway law written in 1921. A small note appeared in the July 28, 1945, Asheville Times. It read that the North Carolina State Highway Commission had authorized a feasibility study of a "...water-level road down [the] Pigeon River to the Tennessee l...

Angus L. Macdonald Bridge

At 1.3 kilometers (or about 0.84 miles) in length, the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is one of two bridges crossing over the Halifax Harbour between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with the other bridge being the A. Murray Mackay Bridge . Opened in 1955 and named after former Nova Scotia Premier and Canadian Minister of Defense for Naval Services Angus L. Macdonald, the Macdonald Bridge was the first bridge that crossed Halifax Harbour that was opened to traffic. The Macdonald Bridge was also the subject of the Big Lift, which was only the second time in history that the span of a suspension bridge were replaced while the bridge was open to traffic. Planning began in 2010 for the Big Lift, while construction took place between 2015 and 2017. Similar work occurred on the Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver, British Columbia before the project took place on the Macdonald Bridge. At this time, much of the bridge infrastructure is new, leaving only the towers, main cables and...