U.S. DOT

Earth to governor: Congestion pricing is a job-creating activity — because without it, our transit system will die (and take the region down with it).

The local papers took great pains to avoid blaming Gov. Cuomo for the slow-rolling debacle that will likely lead to the Trump administration to delay and perhaps kill congestion pricing. Plus the other news.

But you have to wonder if congestion pricing is hanging on the whim of the Tweeter in Chief.

In a major rebuke to the Cuomo administration's plans for a transit-less Tappan Zee Bridge, the federal government rejected New York State's application for a low-interest federal loan yesterday. The loan, which would have been made under the popular TIFIA program, was an important component of Cuomo's plans to finance the new Tappan Zee.

Call it the mystery of the missing transit. One of the state's biggest transit projects, in the works for nearly a decade, was canceled overnight and no one will explain why, or even claim responsibility for the decision.

For nine years, the state of New York has been studying how to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge. The bridge, which is more than 50 years old, requires ever more expensive repairs to stay structurally sound and was never intended to carry the volume of traffic that pours over it every day. Since 2002, an extensive public process has led to the development of four alternative plans for the Tappan Zee and the I-287 corridor. Each of them would rebuild the bridge, widen the roadway and include both a new Metro-North commuter rail line and bus rapid transit service across the bridge.

Last week the Tri-State Transportation Campaign's Michelle Ernst reported that an important funding stream for bike and pedestrian projects is currently stalled.

Thirteen projects in the New York City region are up for consideration to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation, including an intriguing proposal from New York City DOT that could boost efforts to replace the Sheridan Expressway with housing and parks along the Bronx River.

Speaking at an event in Midtown yesterday morning, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood let it be known that New York City can still claim hundreds of millions of dollars in federal transit funding -- if local lawmakers implement congestion pricing. NY1 reports: