The Trump administration announced on February 19, 2025, that it was withdrawing federal approval for New York City’s congestion toll. That announcement did not end toll collection: on March 3, 2026, a federal judge declared the termination unlawful, and the MTA’s current information says vehicles are still being tolled. The claim that the move “condemns” the city to pollution is not supported by the City’s first-year air-quality evaluation, which found stable or slightly improved air quality overall and no attributable increase in the studied environmental-justice communities.
What the federal government tried to do—and what the court decided
New York began collecting congestion tolls on January 5, 2025, under an agreement with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) through the federal Value Pricing Pilot Program. On February 19, 2025, Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced that FHWA was terminating that approval. The administration argued that cordon pricing left many drivers without a toll-free option and that toll rates were driven primarily by transit revenue needs rather than congestion reduction. Those were the administration’s policy and legal arguments, not neutral findings. USDOT’s announcement and its letter to Governor Hochul set them out.
The MTA and related plaintiffs challenged the federal action. A preliminary injunction in May 2025 blocked implementation of the attempted termination. On March 3, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted partial summary judgment to the plaintiffs and declared the termination unlawful. The order also said that attempts to enforce the February 19 and April 21 letters would be unlawful. The court’s opinion and order is the controlling development described here; the available information does not establish whether a later appeal or order changed the case’s status.
Is New York’s congestion toll still active?
Yes. The MTA’s current toll information page says vehicles are being tolled. The Congestion Relief Zone covers local Manhattan streets and avenues south of and including 60th Street. The FDR Drive, West Side Highway/Route 9A, and Hugh L. Carey Tunnel connections to West Street are excluded.
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Current hours and listed rates
For passenger and small commercial vehicles paying with valid E-ZPass, the MTA lists a $9 peak toll and a $2.25 overnight toll. Peak periods are 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends. The amount a driver pays can vary with vehicle class, crossing credits, and payment method, so these figures are not a universal rate for every trip. The MTA page describes a planned phase-in to $12 in 2028 and $15 in 2031; those are scheduled future levels, not the listed current toll.
What the first-year air-quality evaluation found
In an announcement dated August 14, 2026, the NYC Health Department reported that its first comprehensive evaluation found citywide air quality remained stable or improved slightly during the program’s first year. It also reported no increase attributable to the program in the studied environmental-justice communities. The evaluation was developed with the MTA, NYC DOT, and NYSDOT. These findings do not show that pollution has disappeared, nor do they establish that every block or future period will have the same result. NYC Health’s announcement provides the agency’s conclusion and context.
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What was measured and how
The evaluation tracked four traffic-related pollutants: fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitric oxide (NO), and black carbon. Measurements covered one full year before tolling and one year after it began. The study used a control site and statistical modeling intended to account for weather, seasonal variation, and regional wildfire smoke. The City describes the results as a comparative assessment of the program’s first year, not a single pollution-reduction percentage or a claim that every pollutant fell everywhere. Its methods document describes the evaluation’s approach.
NYC Health Commissioner Dr. Alister F. Martin said the report showed that “air quality across New York City was not any different because of congestion pricing.” The agency’s broader summary allows for stable or slightly improved citywide conditions; the central point is that it found no attributable worsening in the period it studied. The announcement also notes that the long-running NYC Community Air Survey documents a multi-decade trend of improving air quality, while saying more work is needed to mitigate traffic-related pollution.
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- Road trip–ready features include the HISTORY database of notable sites, a U.S. national parks directory, Tripadvisor traveler ratings and millions of Foursquare POIs
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Does the rescission attempt mean pollution will increase?
The available findings do not establish that. The federal action was an attempted withdrawal of program approval; it is not evidence that the action itself increased emissions. Separately, the City’s first-year evaluation found no attributable increase in the studied communities and stable or slightly improved air quality citywide while the program operated. Those results answer a bounded question about measured conditions during that first year. They do not prove that congestion pricing caused cleaner air across all locations, or predict what would happen under a different future policy.
The City announcement also attributes more than $120 million in congestion-pricing investment to air-quality and public-health initiatives. That is an investment figure, not a measured reduction in pollution.
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