[ddingus]

Walking on the way to the bank, to get a loan, to start a business qualifies as economic activity.

As does going to the store, and a whole bunch of other things.

The USA built the Interstate Highway System for exactly the reason of economic growth. The ideas behind it are no different from the ones that justified sidewalks.

Should any small town evaluate their sidewalk projects, like we have the Interestate Highway Project, assuming they have the records and they probably don't, they would find those sidewalks probably returned a couple times their cost already, and will continue to deliver that, easily funding their upkeep.

(something we seem to have forgotten about roads, which has allowed tolls to encroach on and marginalize said growth and value)

[timerol]

Note that not all roads induce enough development to sustain the relevant maintenance, which leads to a fair amount of municipal funding problems: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/12/4/5-ways-federal...

[ddingus]

That is almost all entirely do to people who should be paying more not doing so.