Pollution in parts of Manhattan declined by 22% in the first six months of this year after motorists began paying a new toll to drive south of 60th Street, according to a Cornell University analysis.
The new fee, the first of its kind in the US, began on Jan. 5. Passenger cars pay $9 during peak hours to drive into the tolled zone, which runs from 60th Street to the lower tip of Manhattan. The congestion pricing initiative has reduced traffic by about 11% and is set to bring in $500 millionBloomberg Terminal of net revenue in 2025 to help modernize the city’s more than 100-year-old transit network.