Congestion Relief Zone Map: Boundaries for Drivers

In short: The Congestion Relief Zone is Manhattan south of and including 60th Street. Three roads are left out: the FDR Drive, West Street/West Side Highway (Route 9A) and the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel connections to West Street (MTA). For TLC data, the MTA lists 38 taxi zones as inside the zone. Vehicles are counted at 12 entry points.

For a TLC trip, the line decides one thing: does the trip go to, from, within or through the zone? If yes, the passenger pays the per-trip charge ($0.75 taxi/FHV, $1.50 Uber/Lyft, as of October 12, 2026). For a private car, the line decides whether the car is charged the daily toll.

The edges: 60th Street, the rivers and the excluded roads

• North edge: 60th Street, included. The MTA's wording is "south of and including 60 Street". Turning onto 60th Street from the north counts as entering.
• East and west edges: the rivers. Every bridge and tunnel from Brooklyn, Queens and New Jersey that lands below 60th Street leads into the zone.
• Excluded roadways. Driving only on the FDR Drive, the West Side Highway or the Carey Tunnel connections to West Street is not charged. Detection points along them follow your car. If a car is seen entering an excluded road and then is no longer seen by the next detection points, the system charges it (MTA FAQ).

Which highway connections are charged

The MTA FAQ explains each crossing. The rule: if the connection uses Manhattan streets, it is charged.

Source: MTA FAQ and its connections map. These rules decide the daily car toll. A TLC trip is different: the per-trip charge depends on whether the trip goes to, from, within or through the zone, not on which ramp you use. The FDR question covers that case.

What counts as a trip "through" the zone

For TLC trips the MTA uses four words: to, from, within or through. "Through" is the one drivers ask about. The data form in the MTA's per-trip plan agreement gives an example: a trip picked up in Brooklyn that passes through Lower Manhattan and drops off at 101st Street must be reported as a zone trip, because part of its route was inside the zone (MTA plan agreement, Appendix A). So the pickup and drop-off can both be outside the zone and the trip still carries the charge.

Inside the zone

For cars, the MTA says traveling within the zone is not charged, even along or across West Street or the FDR south of 60th. Leaving (across 60th Street or a bridge or tunnel) and coming back is a new entry. A car parked inside the zone for days is not charged again.

The 12 entry points

The MTA's open data counts every entry at one of 12 detection groups (t6yz-b64h):

• From the north: East 60th St, West 60th St, FDR Drive at 60th St, West Side Highway at 60th St
• From Queens: Queensboro Bridge, Queens-Midtown Tunnel
• From Brooklyn: Williamsburg Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Hugh L. Carey Tunnel
• From New Jersey: Holland Tunnel, Lincoln Tunnel

Four of them (FDR Drive, West Side Highway, Brooklyn Bridge and Hugh L. Carey Tunnel) also record "excluded roadway entries": vehicles that came in but stayed on the excluded roads. Which ones taxis and FHVs use most is on entries by crossing.

The 38 taxi zones inside the zone

TLC trip records use taxi zones, not addresses. The MTA published the set of zones it treats as inside the Central Business District, so trip data can be matched to the toll (yfdc-w5jh). All 38 are in Manhattan:

Alphabet City · Battery Park · Battery Park City · Chinatown · Clinton East · Clinton West · East Chelsea · East Village · Financial District North · Financial District South · Flatiron · Garment District · Gramercy · Greenwich Village North · Greenwich Village South · Hudson Sq · Kips Bay · Little Italy/NoLiTa · Lower East Side · Meatpacking/West Village West · Midtown Center · Midtown East · Midtown North · Midtown South · Murray Hill · Penn Station/Madison Sq West · Seaport · SoHo · Stuy Town/Peter Cooper Village · Sutton Place/Turtle Bay North · Times Sq/Theatre District · TriBeCa/Civic Center · Two Bridges/Seward Park · UN/Turtle Bay South · Union Sq · West Chelsea/Hudson Yards · West Village · World Trade Center

The map shows them outlined, coloured by how many trips start in each zone:

A taxi zone is a data unit, not the toll line. Tolls are charged by the detection system, not by zone. Use the list to read trip data and zone pages, not to argue about a single block.

Two "congestion zones": don't mix them up

The state congestion surcharge uses a different, bigger area: Manhattan south of 96th Street (not including 96th). TLC rules call that area the "Congestion Zone". So a trip from 80th Street to Harlem pays the state surcharge (it starts below 96th) but no MTA charge (it never goes to 60th or below). See Congestion Zone and Congestion Relief Zone.

Step by step: using the map at work

1. Know your edges. 60th Street is in. 61st Street is out. The FDR and West Side Highway are out only while you stay on them.
2. Don't wait on highway ramps. In your own car, a stop on or just off the FDR or West Side Highway makes you a zone entrant.
3. Trip charge = destination or route, not the ramp. If the trip begins, ends or passes through the zone, expect the per-trip charge on the meter or in the app.
4. Relief stops: the relief stand guide lists where you can take a break; stopping inside the zone costs a TLC vehicle nothing extra when it is under the per-trip plan.
5. Every bridge into the zone counts. The MTA's crossing-credit rules name four "tolled entries" (the Lincoln, Holland, Queens-Midtown and Hugh L. Carey tunnels), but the Queensboro, Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges are detection points into the zone too. See East River bridges.

How often trips touch the zone, by sector: congestion zone trip statistics. All charges: Congestion Relief Zone toll. Background: congestion pricing for TLC drivers, Manhattan for TLC drivers and the tolls hub.