As discussion and debate of the congestion pricing plank of PlaNYC has continued, it’s only become more obvious how much potential it has to change New York City for the better — by cutting the pollution that sends thousands of children to hospitals every year with asthma attacks; cutting the city’s load of climate disrupting carbon dioxide emissions; creating much-needed funds for improving mass transit connections between the subways, busses, and ferries; relieving traffic jams not only in Manhattan but also in the borough neighborhoods that ring the bridges and tunnels onto the island; and stemming the vast economic losses and fuel waste caused by people and deliveries being stuck in traffic instead of arriving promptly at their destinations. A few minutes ago, the chances that CP will become reality in NYC got a huge boost: Governor Eliot Spitzer made a firm statement in support of the plan, at a press conference that also featured Mayor Mike, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters. As Peters detailed, New York City (along with several other major U.S. cities) is in contention for hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding for a pilot launch of CP, a sort of proof of… (more)
(Posted by Emily Gertz in Urban Design and Planning at 11:08 AM)