The latest streets and transportation news from Streetsblog USA.
Eighteen months ago, in the summer of 2024, the state executive from Buffalo shocked and enraged a phalanx of transit advocates, climate activists, civic boosters and everyday New Yorkers when she suddenly and indefinitely paused the long-awaited commencement of congestion pricing in New York City.
Her subsequent tactics — inviting critics to speak with diner patrons who hated the toll, claiming hundreds of hotel caterers clapped for her decision to pause it, lobbying legislators in Albany to pass a replacement tax — further dismayed her once-steadfast supporters.
But then, just days after Donald Trump won back the White House, Hochul reinstated the toll at a lower price. And now she’s again its biggest booster.
How did the state executive from Buffalo arrive at this point? It’s been a long rollercoaster ride …
Centennial events downplay the violent history of one of America’s most “iconic” highways, and obscure how that violence persists to this day.
The U.S. is becoming a dying petrostate, while China leads the world in renewable energy.
“Affordable travel is not a fallback. It is what makes broad mobility possible.”
