The MTA says its congestion pricing program is back on track after federal officials delayed approval of a routine environmental assessment for months. 

This spring, after MTA officials submitted documents to the Federal Highway Administration they were taken aback when the feds replied with more than 400 follow up questions about the environmental impacts of charging drivers a fee to enter Manhattan below 60th Street.

After three months of work, the MTA reports this week it answered all of those questions and now awaits federal approval to move to the next phase.

The MTA still hopes to begin charging drivers by late next year. But it still has to conduct more public outreach, and determine how much to charge drivers, so it can raise $1 billion dollars a year.