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Like the 710 freeway? https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-05-22/710-free...

California seems uniquely incapable of building anything, so of course a freeway there has stalled.

Elsewhere the US continues build tons and tons of roads. According to the Bureau of Transport Statistics the US highway system went from 4,050,717 miles in 2009 to 4,171,125 miles in 2019. This is a delta 120,408 miles, or an increase of 2.9%.

The 710 might be an interesting example, but it's not exactly indicative of a trend.

It is significantly simpler to build a local road on the land owned by people who want that road, than it is to eminent domain your way across the country, fighting hostile property owners you’re confiscating, NIMBYists, environmental activists etc.

That’s a good theory, until you investigate the fate of light rail in most American cities. By your theory light rail should be easy to build; it’s built by local authorities for local consumption. Yet, most of these projects fail to a combination of local incompetence and NIMBY action.

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