Ask anyone who has tried to drive cross town this week. New York has the worst traffic in the country. Approximately 900,000 people slog out a bumper-to-bumper drive to Manhattan’s central business district every day despite living in the most transit-rich community in America.
The solutions on either side of the Hudson lie in stark contrast.
In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy wants to add more lanes leading up to the Holland Tunnel which as anyone who has followed the work of Robert Moses knows will only create more traffic, while NJ Transit struggles with massive budget problems and the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail sits unfinished.
Across the river in the center of the mass transit-riding universe, Gov. Hochul is investing in mass transit, including through congestion pricing, to make it easier and better for commuters on rail, bus, and subway throughout the region to get out of their gas-guzzling cars and cut gridlock for those who must travel by car and truck. Murphy’s contribution to this visionary plan is to sue to stop it, despite the tens of thousands of New Jerseyans who use the MTA every day,
Study after study has found that congestion pricing is the most effective tool for relieving this........