The country’s first vehicle congestion pricing system will be introduced Sunday in New York City.
Car drivers can expect to pay up to $9 (£7) per day, with rates varying for other vehicles.
The congested area includes the area south of Central Park, which includes well-known landmarks such as the Empire State Building, Times Square, and the financial district around Wall Street.
The plan aims to alleviate New York’s notorious transportation problems and raise billions of dollars for a public transit network, but has faced opposition from prominent New Yorker and President-elect Donald Trump.
Congestion pricing was first proposed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul two years ago, but was delayed and revised due to complaints from some commuters and businesses.
The new plan revives one she halted in June, saying it had “too many unintended consequences for New Yorkers.”
Most drivers are charged $9 once a day when entering congested areas during peak hours and $2.25 at other times.
Light trucks and non-commuter buses pay $14.40 to enter Manhattan during peak hours, while large trucks and tour buses pay a $21.60 fee.
The charges were met with much opposition, including from taxi drivers’ associations.
But the most high-profile opposition has come from Trump, a New York native who has pledged to scrap the plan once he takes office this month.
Local Republican lawmakers have already asked him to intervene.
Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents the suburbs just north of New York City, promised Trump in November that he would “put an end once and for all to this outrageous congestion charge cash confiscation.”
A judge rejected an 11th-hour effort Friday by officials in the neighboring state of New Jersey to block the plan, citing environmental impacts on nearby areas.
Last year, for the second year in a row, New York City ranked as the world’s most congested urban area, according to INRIX, a transportation data analytics company.
According to the report, during the morning peak hours in the first quarter of last year, cars in downtown Manhattan ran at a speed of 11 miles per hour (17 km per hour).
