ABJ editor: Rail failed, here's Plan B for traffic-choked Austin (and your role)

Austin's billion dollar rail-and-road proposal was soundly rebuked by voters Tuesday, with 57 percent voting against the measure and 42 percent in favor. Traffic is never going to get better in this town. We do, however, have the opportunity to throttle back the rate at which congestion grows. This city can't just stand still like a car on I-35, so here's my action plan for you and everyone who can make our roads bearable.

Business owners and managers: Believe it or not, collectively we have the ability to improve Austin traffic quicker and on a broader scale than even our road and rail builders. Explore the plausibility of telecommuting and staggered work schedules at your office — today. Get creative: Sparefoot.com CEO Chuck Gordon provides incentives for employees to leave their cars at home in a variety of eye-opening ways. HomeAway.com CEO Brian Sharples now has five offices across Austin. He employs 970 people here now, and he realizes that putting them in one place limits their housing options and chokes our streets. I'll point out that his two biggest offices here — downtown and at The Domain — are within walking distance of thousands of apartments and condos, so the "sprawl" is actually New Urbanism at its best. So get moving, bosses, and keep your employees moving during their commute — if you mandate one. If you need guidance, contact the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Employees: There is something you can do too: Take the above message to your boss and push them to seriously consider the options. Change often bubbles up from the bottom.

TxDOT: Ensure the I-35 improvements on the horizon move as many cars and buses as possible. That road is critical to the region, not to mention the country, and we must maximize mobility on it and think big: Really big, because the problem is enormous. Also, think out of the box and court private-sector solutions that break the mold. Consider tossing a BART-like train system along I-35, MoPac Expressway, U.S. 183 and Loop 360. You don't need to be the "evil road empire" some say you are. If rail works, and I think BART does in the San Francisco Bay Area, help bring Austin an affordable plan that actually gets cars off our most congested roads. Finally, lobby state and federal lawmakers like junkyard dogs for your fair share of funding.