New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy sends letter on congestion pricing to President Trump

NEW JERSEY (WABC) — Gov. Phil Murphy said he sent President Donald Trump a letter on congestion pricing Monday to request a reexamination of federal approval on the plan.

“As you begin your second term as President, I welcome any opportunity to work with you and your Administration where we can find common ground,” wrote Governor Murphy. “One area where I believe our priorities align is congestion pricing.”

He went on to call the current congestion pricing plan a “scheme.”

“The current congestion pricing scheme is a disaster for working and middle-class New Jersey commuters and residents who need or want to visit lower Manhattan and now need to pay a big fee on top of the bridge and tunnel tolls they already pay,” continued Governor Murphy. “And, adding insult to injury, New Jersey communities are not being fully compensated for the additional traffic and attendant pollution that will be re-routed to them because of congestion pricing.”

Lawyers for New Jersey told a judge they will file an updated legal challenge to the Federal Highway Administration’s “multiple re-evaluations” of congestion pricing.

The legal move keeps New Jersey’s opposition in federal court to the toll pricing going as Trump takes office.

The state plans to drop its unsuccessful attempts to get a restraining order against New York, denied by both a federal judge in Newark and by an appeals court in Philadelphia.

It will instead continue to file challenges with Judge Leo Gordon in Newark, who largely ruled against attempts to block congestion pricing but seems sympathetic to some of New Jersey’s arguments against it.

“New Jersey intends to seek leave of the Court to file an amended complaint to challenge the Federal Highway Administration’s multiple re-evaluations of the congestion pricing program,” attorney Randy Mastro wrote in court papers. “New Jersey expects to file its application shortly.”

Separately, New Jersey will soon launch a $20 million program to give New York businesses in the central business district grants to allow New Jersey residents to work remotely or at a satellite office in the Garden State.

The state will advertise this new program – dubbed NJ RISE, or New Jersey Re-assigning In State Employees program — with billboards at the major bridges and tunnels.

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