Will New York City's congestion pricing plan start on Sunday or not?

That question remains after a judge's ruling earlier this week led both sides of the river to claim victory in an ongoing legal battle.

The MTA says the first in the nation plan to start charging most drivers $9 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street will move forward as planned.

But attorneys for new Jersey interpreted the ruling differently, saying the plan can't start this weekend because the judge agreed the federal government still needs to address concerns about how the plan will increase air pollution on this side of the Hudson.

Now, in a last ditch effort, new Jersey filed a request on New Year's Eve to get a restraining order to stop the plan from starting in just three days.

Senior Correspondent Brenda Flanagan has the latest.

New York has just flipped the bird at the federal judge and said we're going ahead anyway.

Defiant new Jersey officials, hoping to at least stall New York's congestion pricing plan, rallied in Fort Lee to insist they do still have a legal leg to stand on, despite a Monday court ruling that rejected most of their arguments.

The judge's decision appeared to greenlight the $9 per car toll.

The MTA, scheduled to launch on Sunday for vehicles crossing into Manhattan's congestion relief zone below 60th Street.

But that's not how Congressman Josh Gottheimer sees it.

This new lung tax will cost children and families more money to breathe more polluted air.

And I hate to burst New York's bubble, but they just can't rush this one through.

Addressing the impact of the congestion tax will take time.

It will take studies and real plans that we've all been calling for for years.

And the judge has recognized in his ruling.

Opponents claim the judge found real flaws in New York's congestion pricing plan, noting it offered 155 million to curb increased air pollution in the Bronx, where traffic will divert to avoid paying the toll.

But there's nothing for towns like Fort Lee, says mayor Mark Sokolich.

We need to do a reset.

You need to take a look at what the impacts are going to be on Jersey.

We're not talking about money damages here.

We're talking about people's health, safety and welfare.

We're talking about irreparable injury.

This isn't something like, you know, go ahead and we'll catch up in a month or two with the accounting.

In his decision, Judge Leo Gordon wrote they were able to set with precision monetary amounts dedicated to relief in New York, while provide no minimum amounts for mitigation for potentially impacted areas in new Jersey.

He called that arbitrary and capricious and remanded it back to the federal Highway Administration, ordering further explanation and legal briefs by February 11th.

But tomorrow, Jersey lawyers will ask Judge Gordon to delay congestion pricing, arguing without enforceable mitigation measures to alleviate significant environmental impacts in new Jersey, traffic increases and attended air quality impacts will surely result from the congestion pricing scheme.

We've asked the judge to reconfirm and clarify that by sending the the plan back to the federal government and by ruling that it's defective and flawed, that the plan is not going ahead.

On Sunday, attorney Bruce Nagel represents Fort Lee and other towns and promised to appeal if the judge lets congestion pricing proceed, but that tactics are unlikely to succeed, predicted opposing attorney Jonathan Reichman Because the court recognized that the tolling program was about to begin on Sunday if it intended it, the court intended to stop the program from proceeding.

It would have said so.

The opinion did not do that.

And that's why the governor has now made a, 11th hour, Hail Mary attempt to get the court to order an injunction.

Reichman represents dozens of environmental groups that backed congestion pricing, and he wants to know how much did new Jersey lose when it blew off.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has offered to settle the case, reportedly with funding for mitigation and for NJ transit.

We've made multiple offers to settle this lawsuit.

Very generous offers.

I wish I could describe them to you because you would say they're generous.

I'm sure it's a huge source of frustration for them that their own government is negotiating against their interests.

So this appears to be yet another kick in the foot for New Jersey commuters, who have lost the possibility of getting hundreds of millions of dollars to improve, transit into and out of the MTA.

In a statement called Jersey's continued litigation the height of hypocrisy.

Nobody in their right mind should take transportation advice from the new Jersey politicians, who have woefully failed to manage transit in their state.

So the countdown continues.

Meanwhile, a political clock is also ticking.

The president elect vowed to kill congestion pricing his first week in office, but that would be harder to do if it's already collecting tolls.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.