Get ready for some drastic changes in how you commute to work. Congestion is going to get so bad in the Puget Sound region that everyone will have to make major changes in the way they live as more people crowd into the region. So says the man who may be the foremost spokesman on the issue in the country, former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta.

But take heart in one thing: People can adapt. They have before.

If Washingtonians learned anything from the non story that was the Interstate 5 construction near Seattle last summer, it is that, while we may love our cars like most other Americans, we're willing to adapt our behavior to new circumstances. The traffic was expected to become a nightmare of epic proportions after the state Department of Transportation closed lanes in August near downtown Seattle. The nightmare never came true, thanks, in part, to the news media bull horning the warnings of transportation officials.

But it also didn't happen because about half the 120,000 daily drivers found other ways to get around, including by boarding trains and buses and by working from remote sites.

Washington CEO Magazine recently sat down with the 75-year-old Mineta, who served under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush, and whose career includes a stint as vice president at Lock heed Martin Corp.

Mineta says Americans have shown their willingness to change their driving habits, especially in metro areas that have built successful bus and rail operations and that have adopted toll roads, to provide alternatives to driving alone and to pay for infrastructure improvements. He cites successful light rail systems in Portland, Ore., and Dallas.

The solutions, he says, are "going to be all of the above," including variable road pricing, which charges drivers fees to use faster-moving roads during rush hour. "User charges are the most efficient means to cover the cost of transportation improvements," Mineta says.

Were there enough trains and buses to make everyone happy during the I-5 work? No. And this is a legitimate complaint, considering that the state - especially the Puget Sound region, where 70 percent of Washingtonians live - is behind the curve in building a robust mass transit system that provides alternative, frequent, reliable service to people stuck in traffic.

Since Puget Sound residents have shown they're capable of adapting their behavior to new circumstances, it's not unreasonable to expect they'll adapt to toll roads. They'll get their chance to show their adaptability in spring 2008, when the DOT's pilot project, nine miles of a "high-occupancy toll" lane along State Route 167 from Auburn to Renton, launches.

Our economy depends on our adaptability, our willingness to try new ways of getting to work and back, and of shipping food and goods to markets. Our economy, Mineta says, "only works as well as our transportation network."

Amen, Norm.