NEWARK — Congestion pricing for drivers entering lower and midtown Manhattan will — most likely — start Jan. 5.
After more than four hours of deliberation Friday, Judge Leo M. Gordon rejected New Jersey’s request to halt the start of the controversial tolling program that will hit passenger cars entering Manhattan through the Lincoln and Holland tunnels with a $9 toll at peak hours.
Gordon’s clarification came less than 48 hours before the new toll program is scheduled to begin and four days after he released a 70-page decision on New Jersey’s suit to block the program that failed to say one way or the other about whether the program could proceed.
Randy Mastro, the attorney representing New Jersey, asked Gordon to consider a five-day delay of the program, which Gordon denied, but he said the Garden State could still make an appeal to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals over the weekend.
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Gordon’s Friday clarification came after both sides of the litigation declared victory when his initial decision was released earlier this week, causing confusion about whether the $9 toll to enter Manhattan below 60th Street would go into effect Sunday as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority planned.