Read the Letter From the Transportation Secretary About Congestion Pricing

As Secretary of Transportation, I am aware of many concerns regarding the CBDTP pilot project.
For example, in a January 20, 2025, letter to President Trump, which I reviewed, New Jersey
Governor Murphy expressed significant concerns about the impacts that the imposition of tolls
under the CBDTP pilot project is having on New Jersey commuters and residents. Also, in a
January 20, 2025, letter to me, New Jersey Department of Transportation Commissioner
O’Connor also expressed many concerns regarding the impacts of the CBDTP pilot project to
New Jersey communities. Additionally, I have been made aware that legal challenges are
pending regarding the project, which question whether the scope of the project exceeds the
authority of VPPP.
I share the President’s concerns about the impacts to working class Americans who now have an
additional financial burden to account for in their daily lives. Users of the highway network
within the CBD tolling area have already financed the construction and improvement of these
highways through the payment of gas taxes and other taxes. The recent imposition of this
CBDTP pilot project upon residents, businesses, and commuters left highway users without any
free highway alternative on which to travel within the relevant area. Moreover, the revenues
generated under this pilot program are directed toward the transit system as opposed to the
highways. I do not believe that this is a fair deal.
In light of the President’s concerns about the CBDTP pilot project, the legal challenges that have
been made, as well as the concerns expressed by New Jersey Governor Murphy and New Jersey
Commissioner O’Connor, I reviewed the tolling authority granted under VPPP to the CBDTP
pilot project for compliance with Federal law. For the reasons explained below, I have concluded
that the scope of this pilot project as approved exceeds the authority authorized by Congress
under VPPP.
The construction of Federal-aid highways as a toll-free highway system has long been one of the
most basic and fundamental tenets of the Federal-aid Highway Program. Ever since the
enactment of the Federal-Aid Road Act of 1916, Congress has required that roads constructed
with Federal-aid highway funds be free from tolls of all kinds, subject to limited exceptions. See
Public Law 64-154, § 1, 39 Stat. 355 (1916). This general requirement was codified at 23 U.S.C.
§ 301 under Pub. L. No. 85-767, 72 Stat. 885 (1958), and remains the law today. Specifically,
this statute currently reads as follows:
Except as provided in section 129 of this title with respect to certain toll bridges
and toll tunnels, all highways constructed under the provisions of this title shall be
free from tolls of all kinds.
In 1991, Congress created a limited exception to the tolling prohibition for “congestion pricing
pilot projects” implemented by States, local governments, or public authorities. Intermodal
Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, § 1012(b), Pub. L. No. 102-240. Congress did
not define “congestion pricing pilot project.” Congress later amended the statute to replace
“congesting pricing pilot projects” with “value pricing pilot programs,” but it again did not