The GigReporter

Last week a federal judge in the Southern District of New York issued a temporary injunction blocking the federal Department of Transportation from rescinding approval of New York City’s congestion pricing program. The case is Metropolitan Transportation Authority, et al. v. Sean Duffy, et al., Case No. 25-cv-1413 (LJL).

The congestion pricing program went into effect early this year, and charges additional tolls to motor vehicles entering downtown Manhattan (below Central Park). The tolls are intended to reduce traffic and associated pollution, and to raise revenue for transportation infrastructure. The toll zones include federal highways, so federal approval was necessary, which the prior administration provided late in 2024.

The current administration’s Department of Transportation is now trying to reverse that approval, and additionally threatened to withhold federal transportation funding and approvals for other local and state transportation projects. The federal court’s temporary restraining order from May 27now restrains the Department of Transportation from acting on the purported rescinding of the approval, including the withholding of federal funds and approvals. The court’s written opinion found that the Department’s legal conclusions regarding the legality of the congestion pricing program were erroneous, and that it therefore cannot proceed with any enforcement measures against it.

As SCI discussed in an earlier post, the congestion pricing tolls will substantially affect decisions on where, when, and with what vehicles to make deliveries in New York City. Businesses of all sorts, but especially owner/operators and logistics brokers, will need to see how the administration responds, whether that is trying to appeal the order or proceeding with litigation before the district court.