#NYC GRIDLOCK ALERT 2019 DRIVERS#

Hochul on Tuesday did not provide any additional details about the ongoing negotiations or the “environmental issue” she cited as a stumbling block. The MTA, for its part, defended the timetable last August, with an MTA senior adviser saying the agency was “mystified by the mayor’s statement.” “Do I buy that timeline? No,” de Blasio said of the 16-month timeline the MTA set for the assessment. “Subway ridership is at 60%, our car traffic and truck traffic is at 100 or above 100%, so which patient has the need?” Schwartz asked rhetorically.įormer Mayor Bill de Blasio last summer implored the state to enact congestion pricing by the end of 2022, citing an urgent need for the estimated $15 billion the plan would net the MTA over the course of five years, as well as the need to curb rising traffic and gridlock in Manhattan.

#NYC GRIDLOCK ALERT 2019 DRIVERS#

There are worries that charging a fee to drivers on top of the recent spikes in gas prices could be detrimental at a time when Lower Manhattan needs office workers back. Postponing congestion pricing is subsidizing failure instead of investing in options for all New Yorkers,” Danny Harris, Transportation Alternatives Executive Director said. While state lawmakers approved a plan to charge drivers who enter Manhattan below 60th Street a fee back in 2019, its rollout has been delayed several times, first by federal funding issues and then by an MTA-led environmental assessment. “As far as I’m concerned this is just politics,” Sam Schwartz, City Traffic Commissioner said. Tom Suozzi and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, shared opposing views on the issue, with Suozzi saying the plan should be “postponed for at least a year” and Williams maintaining the city “should do it now.”

“So we’re asking them for a time frame, but we’re on a path, and now we have to address their concerns, and they’re flags that they’ve raised,” she added. “They just asked us to deal with an additional environmental issue, so I don’t think it’s going to be before the end of the year. We’re in conversation with the federal government,” she said. Pressed by moderator Marcia Kramer to say how long its implementation would be delayed, the governor said she could not provide a timeline. While state lawmakers approved a plan to charge drivers who enter Manhattan below 60th Street a fee back in 2019, its rollout has been delayed several times, first by federal funding issues and then by an MTA-led environmental assessment.Hochul attributed the delay to 'hurdles' that have arisen amid 'negotiations with the federal government'.Kathy Hochul on Tuesday said congestion pricing was 'not going to happen over the next year'

Nyc gridlock alert 2019