On Thursday, transportation advocates around America gathered to send a message to Congress: Pass a new surface transportation bill, and fix the nearly-broke highway trust fund. Advocates used the hashtag #StandUp4Transportation to get the message out.

All over the US, public officials helped get out the message by riding transit:

Locally, Capital Bikeshare, VRE, and Alexandria’s DASH bus got in on the action.

So did Montgomery County RideOn, which hosted local elected officials throughout the day, including Maryland Congressman John Sarbanes.

The existing federal surface transportation bill, MAP-21, expires on May 31, and unless Congress intervenes, the highway trust fund will run out of money in less than eight weeks.

Visit StandUp4Transportation.org to learn more, and to find out how you can help.

Abigail Zenner, is a former lobbyist turned communications specialist. She specializes in taking technical urban planning jargon and turning it into readable blog posts. When she’s not nerding out about urban planning, transportation, and American History, you may find her teaching a fitness class. Her blog posts represent her personal views only.

Tracey Johnstone is a recovering political pollster who is completing a dissertation on Russian economic reform. She is also secretary of the Action Committee for Transit. She has lived in downtown Bethesda since 1996, and previously lived in Toronto, Moscow, and Alexandria (before the Metro).