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West Side Officials' Letter on Congestion Pricing in Hell's Kitchen to MTA, Port Authority, and NY & NJ Governors
October 10, 2023
-
ISSUE:
- Congestion Pricing
- Hell's Kitchen
Dear Governor Hochul, Governor Murphy, Mr. Cotton, and Mr. Lieber:
We write to you as elected officials who represent the West Side of Manhattan and specifically, Hell’s Kitchen, regarding infrastructure that has recently been installed for the Central Business District Tolling Program. Although we welcome the implementation of congestion pricing, which will shorten travel times, lead to cleaner air, and provide critical funding for the MTA, we are concerned about the number of gantries that are placed on the streets of Hell’s Kitchen around the Lincoln Tunnel entrances and exits.
Community Board 4 is bearing the brunt of the congestion pricing infrastructure, with approximately forty gantries installed on the streets around the Lincoln Tunnel. Community Board 4 and community leaders have long worked to make the neighborhood livable for residents, despite the major tunnel entrances and exits in the area. Many of these gantries are installed on residential side streets, giving them the feeling of a highway. The gantries are significantly larger and more invasive than streetlights. The installation of these gantries also takes up valuable sidewalk space, which is already extremely limited in Hell’s Kitchen.
We understand these were installed on the streets only because of Port Authority’s refusal to allow the infrastructure to be installed on their property. If Port Authority had agreed to work with the MTA, the totality of these gantries could have been integrated with existing Lincoln Tunnel infrastructure.
We urge you to work towards a solution where the MTA and the Port Authority will collaborate to install the tolling infrastructure on Lincoln Tunnel property, integrating it into existing infrastructure if necessary, and remove these gantries from the streets of Hell’s Kitchen as soon as possible.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Sincerely,
Brad Hoylman-Sigal, State Senator, District 47
Jerrold Nadler, Congressmember, District 12
Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President
Linda Rosenthal, Assemblymember, District 67
Tony Simone, Assemblymember, District 75
Erik Bottcher, Councilmember, District 3
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