not just in the US - from the stuff I've read (and I can't cite anything), here in Australia the roads were originally sealed to improve cycling conditions!
A few months ago I attended a conference where they spoke very clearly about how the automobile industry, in the early 1900's, used marketing to make roads their own.
99pi did a story recently on how the auto industry fabricated the crime of "jaywalking" to get people out of the streets and seize the streets for cars.
So cyclists started raising money for roads in the 1900s from private individuals ("Pope [...] and other special interest groups"), private companies ("asphalt manufacturers") and 16 years later when it was too late, the government passed some bill to give themselves credit for funding the roads by saying they would match state contributions.
And now everyone thinks if it weren't for the government we couldn't have roads.
You could have roads without the government, you'd be unlikely to have an effective interstate highway system without it. Or something like the Garden State Parkway.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 33.1 ms ] threadHere is the talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHA4xN1dEkM&t=2m8s
and this part of the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyT8AUn3cuU&t=10m30s
And now everyone thinks if it weren't for the government we couldn't have roads.