(Reuters) -A judge on Wednesday blocked the U.S. Transportation Department from withholding federal funding from New York as the Trump administration seeks to stop Manhattan's congestion pricing program.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman, who a day earlier had issued a temporary restraining order, issued a preliminary injunction preventing the federal government from withholding approval of or funding for New York projects.
Liman said in his 109-page opinion that the Transportation Department had "challenged Plaintiffs to a game of chicken," saying New York could either end the program or "else may brace for impact and prepare to suffer the effects" of government compliance measures.
The program charges most passenger vehicles $9 during peak periods to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street.
The Trump administration on February 19 rescinded federal approval of the program designed to reduce traffic and raise money to upgrade aging subway and bus systems.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy in April told New York Governor Kathy Hochul that the U.S. Transportation Department may withhold environmental approvals or project funding starting on May 28 if the state did not end congestion pricing by last week, which it declined to do.
"The federal government may not force states to comply with its dictates by threatening destructive retribution, only to turn around once compliance is secured and claim that it was merely bluffing," Liman wrote.
Shortly after the Trump administration rescinded approval, New York City, New York state and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority sued to block the move.
The judge expects to complete briefing on motions for summary judgment by early autumn, and he will issue a ruling on the merits of the lawsuit by the end of December.
New York, which launched its first-in-the-nation congestion pricing program in January, says the program has dramatically cut congestion, with about 5.8 million fewer cars than expected in the congestion zone between January and March, or a reduction of 8% to 13%.
Hochul has said that funds raised from the program would underpin $15 billion in debt financing for critical mass transit capital improvements.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Lisa Shumaker)
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