Yesterday was a big day for livable streets and progressive transportation advocates — and not just because of what happened in New York City.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) speaking at the launch of Transportation for America’s campaign platform. Photo by Steve Davis/Transportation for America.

Down in DC, Transportation for America went to the U.S. Capitol to formally launch its campaign to influence the 2009 transportation bill. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Mayor John Robert Smith of Meridian, MS, were the featured speakers, and Blumenauer noted that the T4A coalition of more than 225 organizations and 17,000 individual members was perhaps the "most formidable" ever assembled for transportation reform. On their campaign blog, Transportation for America writes:

Our campaign platform calls on President Obama and Congress to launch a new federal transportation mission that breaks with the worn-out ways of the status quo, helps put an end to America’s oil dependency, brings opportunity to all Americans and allows our country’s businesses to compete and thrive in the 21st Century.

Sounds good, right? You can download the full platform here.

Streetsblog Network member Hub and Spokes also links to an interview on Smart City Radio with T4A’s David Goldberg, in which he addresses the question, "Does America have a transportation policy?"

Also, Green Wheels has the latest data from the Energy Information Administration on US demand for gasoline, and Sustainable Savannah reports on the recent firing of the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation. Was she not building roads fast enough?