[maxerickson]

You miss my point. The Netherlands has really nice inter-city bicycle infrastructure, the thing my region lacks (it's easy enough to get around on quiet grid streets). They aren't in any way affordable, so we designate the US highway shoulder as a national bicycle route.

There's a not-yet-connected separated path growing between here and the smaller town ~10 miles away, but the local casino paid for a bunch of that!

[zachkatz]

Cycling infrastructure is cheaper to build than not to build: http://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2011/06/cycling-infrast...

[maxerickson]

That's an ironic reply in this context. 600 km of cycling infrastructure in my region would have a fraction of the users (and thus a fraction of the benefit) as the same 600 km built in the Netherlands. We have ~300,000 people occupying a slightly larger land area than the 17 million people living in the Netherlands.

Head west and the population really thins out.

[zachkatz]

If the casino found building a cycle path to be a worthwhile investment, why wouldn't other local businesses and the local government?