Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York resurrected congestion pricing last week, delighting transportation and environmental advocates eager for the benefits the plan promises, from less traffic and fresher air to improvements to mass transit.

But her efforts also renewed the entrenched opposition to the policy — which includes the incoming U.S. president, congressional Republicans and even the Democratic governor of New Jersey — and could hurt her chances of re-election.

The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the state agency that will operate the toll program, approved the plan on Monday in a 12-to-1 vote. It will charge most drivers $9 to enter the busiest part of Manhattan and is expected to start in early January.

Governor Hochul sidelined congestion pricing in June because she said she feared its economic impact on New Yorkers. But the policy also threatened to harm the political fortunes of her fellow Democrats during congressional elections earlier this month. About two-thirds of New York State residents who responded to a Siena College survey in April said they opposed the program.

Now, the re-emergence of congestion pricing, with the toll lowered from $15 to $9, has predictably angered Republicans, who are already eying the governor’s race in 2026. Among the loudest voices is Representative Mike Lawler, who represents a district in the New York suburbs and is rumored to be considering a run for governor. He released an ad in recent days targeting the toll plan and Governor Hochul.

And while many Democrats in New York City have cheered the return of congestion pricing, which would be the first program of its kind in the nation, some suburban Democrats have shown frustration.

Central

Park

QUEENS

60th

Street

Ed Koch

Queensboro

Bridge

Central Business District

Tolling Program area

Queens-

Midtown

Tunnel

Lincoln

Tunnel

Roads

excluded

from toll

EAST RIVER

HUDSON RIVER

MANHATTAN

Williamsburg

Bridge

West Side

Highway

F.D.R. Drive

Holland

Tunnel

Manhattan

Bridge

Brooklyn

Bridge

NEW JERSEY

Battery Park

Underpass

BROOKLYN

Hugh L. Carey

Tunnel

1 mile

Central

Park

QUEENS

60th

Street

Ed Koch

Queensboro

Bridge

Central Business

District Tolling

Program area

Queens-

Midtown

Tunnel

Lincoln

Tunnel

Roads

excluded

from toll

EAST R.

HUDSON R.

MANHATTAN

Williamsburg

Bridge

West Side

Highway

F.D.R.

Drive

Holland

Tunnel

Manhattan

Bridge

NEW

JERSEY

Brooklyn

Bridge

Battery Park

Underpass

Hugh L. Carey

Tunnel

BROOKLYN

1 mile

By Scott Reinhard

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