A Manhattan federal judge will hold a hearing over whether to freeze the hotly contested congestion pricing plan — just two weeks before the first-in-the-nation toll is set to take effect.
Judge Lewis Liman said Thursday that he’ll rule on whether to stop New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s Jan. 5 rollout of the plan — after hearing from its opponents and defenders on Dec. 20.
But first, the Trucking Association of New York, United Federation of Teachers and the interest group New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing all have until Nov. 29 to make their case for a “preliminary injunction” that would temporarily stop the plan, the judge said.
The plan set to take effect on Jan.5 calls for a $9 toll on commuters entering Manhattan below 60th St.Robert Miller
Those groups argue that the toll on cars entering Manhattan below 60th Street — which would start at $9, jump to $12 by 2028 and spike to $15 after 2031 — is unconstitutional, court papers say.
The video player is currently playing an ad.The toll’s backers, including the city, state and Metropolitan Transportation Authority, have until Dec. 2 to file their own court papers arguing to keep the plan intact.
All of the parties involved are then due back in court to slug it out at a hearing Dec. 20 at 2 p.m.
The Manhattan federal cases are only part of a sea of pending litigation that could scuttle the plan, which was first approved by state lawmakers and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019.
Several court battles in New York and New Jersey are underway over whether the toll will be rolled out as planned.Matthew McDermottJudge Lewis Liman will rule after holding a hearing on Dec. 20.Columbia Law School
In New Jersey, Newark federal Judge Leo Gordon is currently weighing whether to order the toll paused based on Garden State officials arguing that it was pressed through without proper environmental review.
Hochul announced in June that the plan was “paused,” before reviving it again barely a week after November’s elections, where New York Democrats scooped up several seats in the US House of Representatives.
Her pause led to more lawsuits — but from supporters of congestion pricing in that round of litigation. Riders Alliance, the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, and the Sierra Club filed a joint lawsuit against the state for its 11th-hall halt of the plan arguing that it was unlawful.
With Hochul now bringing back congestion pricing, the state and the three public transport and environmental safety advocacy groups agreed to settle. The groups will drop the lawsuit if the congestion tolls are rolled out on Jan. 5 as scheduled.
It’s unclear how a judge-issued injunction in the other litigation case would impact the settlement agreements.
