Congestion pricing plans help reduce traffic in cities, but it does more than just keep cars off the road.

So both by reducing the number of cars coming into the congestion zone and also making the traffic

flow more efficient we expect to see improvements in air quality and those can

translate into health outcomes. It's Monday July 15th and you're listening to

Science Friday. I'm Scifry producer Deep

Peter Schmidt. In early June, New York Governor Kathy Hockel blocked a

congestion pricing plan from going into effect in New York City which would require drivers to pay a fee for entering the

central business district of Manhattan in order to reduce traffic and fund public transit.

Cities like London, Stockholm, and Singapore have already implemented similar plans,

and they've seen positive environmental and health impacts.

But how would this kind of plan translate to New York City and other U.S. cities?

Curious about how congestion pricing might impact your health.

Here's guest host John Dankowski with an in-depth look.

Here to tell us more about the health impacts of congestion pricing,

are Janet Curry, co-director of Princeton's Center for Health and

Well-being, and Andrea Titus, assistant professor of the Department of Population Health at

NYU's Grossman School of Medicine. I'd like to welcome you both to

Science Friday. Thanks so much for being here. Thank you. Pleasure to be here.

And Janet, I'd like to start with you. Maybe you can just tell us where this idea of

congestion pricing comes from in the first place?

Well it's a very old idea really in economics.

Nobel Prize winner named Vickry came up with the idea and the idea is kind of to use the market in order to induce people to do something socially beneficial.

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