by Robyn Ross
The Austin Chronicle

Say you’re broke.

Say you had an emergency root canal and your bank account balance has sunk dangerously low. You have a couple of choices. Either you make more money: Take on a second shift? Pawn your watch? Or you make your existing income go further, by cutting spending. Drop cable, cancel the gym membership, skip the lattes, and make drip coffee at home.

The quickest approach, and the solution that’s already in your hands, is trimming your budget. Maybe you’ll get a better job in the future, but you can be more frugal starting today.

It turns out the principles of personal budgeting also apply to traffic congestion. Viewed as a budget, Austin’s roads are stretched to their limit. Building more roads – where there’s room – is one solution, as is squeezing more efficiency out of the current system. But a more immediate one is easing the pressure on existing roads. And that’s called “travel demand management,” or TDM.

Continue reading at The Austin Chronicle:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2014-06-27/getting-off-the-road/