Congestion pricing seems to have turned the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge from a historically toll-free span into a trap that hammers unsuspecting drivers with the new $9 charge — even if they’re not heading into the toll zone.
The scheme primarily affects motorists on the lower level of the bridge exiting at East 60th Street — where the congestion pricing zone starts — onto First Avenue, which runs uptown.
Those who take the upper level of the 115-year-old span can get off at East 62nd Street and head towards the FDR, avoiding the levy entirely.
But drivers from Queens get dropped off on East 60th street are likely to get hit with the tax — regardless of their direction — because the congestion pricing zone dips in and out of the area.
People crossing back into Queens will also get charged, since there’s no way to avoid the congestion zone to get onto the bridge.
“The bridge is basically not free anymore,” Felicia Brown, a 40-year-old who works on First Avenue but lives in Queens, told The Post Tuesday as she sat in the 60th Street turning lane.
“No matter which way I take, I get hit with a toll and I don’t even need to go into the congestion zone.”
Another man at the light wanted to go uptown on the FDR, but got slammed with the congestion charge anyway.
“There’s no way to get around it,” he said. “It f—king sucks.”
Congestion pricing officially made New York the most expensive city to drive into when the plan began Sunday, forcing motorists to fork over $9 to drive south of 60th Street in Manhattan during peak hours.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority defended the apparent anomaly by saying it simply followed the letter of the law, signed by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2019.
“The law passed five years ago that established the Congestion Relief Zone set the boundary as Manhattan south of and including 60th Street, except for the FDR Drive and West Side Highway,” MTA spokesperson Aaron Donovan said in a statement. “The location of toll points aligns exactly.”
But that’s no consolation to drivers like Johnathan Khan, a resident of Queens who first told The Post about what he described as the “gotcha zone.”
“Knowing there’s no way back to Queens without paying a toll is miserable,” Khan said.
He also criticized MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber —who on Tuesday brushed off concerns that his agency is mismanaging its massive $20 billion budget — saying he felt “abused” by Lieber’s pride in the congestion plan.
“It’s all about the money,” Khan said. “It’s Chicken Little: If they don’t have congestion pricing, the sky will fall.”
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