People are oblivious to the fact that there was a huge and intricate interurban rail system in the east, midwest and west, since the time of the Civil War, and before, and its contribution to the growth of the US is immeasurable.
And it really didn't start to atrophy until after WW2.
And government subsidies, in one form or another, have existed from the time of the Eire Canal, and before, for various transportation projects.
Can you imagine what it would cost to fly, if the ticket actually represented the costs of the airport, the FAA, the air traffic control system, the costs of training pilots, etc.
I would add that much of the Canadian identity is tied up in the not-so-trivial task of uniting Canada's remote towns with the Canadian Pacific in the nineteenth century.