OK, first of all, congestion has to be down because fewer people can drive because there is ... drum roll ... a gas shortage. Second, can you point to specific bridge closures? I have heard of tunnels being closed, but there are still a lot of bridges. And third, if the price of gas could be allowed to go up a couple of bucks per gallon, people would bitch, but companies in other states would have an incentive to send tankers full of gas, alleviating local problems getting gas from refineries to stations. Instead, there is a disincentive because distributors would have to eat the cost of shipping the gas.
The bridges were closed during the storm, and have re-opened with restrictions (3 people per car, for example) that actually slowed the commute down.
Raising the price of gasoline by a few bucks per gallon on people who desperately need it to heat their homes is screwed up.