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Trump administration kills New York City’s congestion pricing

People walk along the Brooklyn Bridge as cars drive into Manhattan on January 6 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

People walk along the Brooklyn Bridge as cars drive into Manhattan on January 6 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

CNN — The Trump administration is moving ahead with its plan to kill New York City’s congestion pricing – a controversial program designed to help raise millions in critical infrastructure funding.
 
In a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday, US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the Department of Transportation would rescind the agreement effectively ending the tolling structure which went into effect early this year.
 
“New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” Duffy wrote in his letter. “Every American should be able to access New York City regardless of their economic means. It shouldn’t be reserved for an elite few.”
 
The program, originally signed on November 21, created a $9 toll for drivers entering Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak traffic hours. The effort, which has been in the works in New York City for decades, was supposed to help raise millions of dollars in critical funding for the city’s aging transportation infrastructure and help ease congestion in some of the city’s most clogged streets.
 
A spokesperson for Hochul did not immediately return a request for comment.
 
In his letter, Duffy argued the city’s tolling system contradicts the federal highway program which does not allow tolling on roads built with federal funds unless Congress provides an exemption.
 
“Commuters using the highway system to enter New York City have already financed the construction and improvement of these highways through the payment of gas taxes and other taxes. But now the toll program leaves drivers without any free highway alternative, and instead, takes more money from working people to pay for a transit system and not highways.”
 
Duffy also said the program fails to provide an alternative for people who do not have a choice but to drive into the city.
 
Opposition to the program caused some political headaches for Hochul who initially delayed its implementation until after the presidential election in fear that it could help endanger Democrats in battleground districts outside the city, where the program is unpopular.
 
President Trump, whose Manhattan home is in the center of the congestion zone, had also made his dislike of the program clear, vowing to kill the toll soon after he took office.

Author: Gloria Pazmino, CNN

Source: CNN:::

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