[Alberta's Child]

Good points. My point about the subsidy was not that it was directly intended to benefit certain people, but that certain people (including those who live near interstate highways that would have been there anyway) derive a substantial benefit from something that was built at an enormous cost to the U.S. taxpayer. Even though the interstate was built to connect Denver and Chicago, you have access to the road via a local interchange. In the days when the railroads were being built across the U.S., many railroads would not have a local station stop unless the local citizens or merchants paid for the station and guaranteed a certain number of carloads of freight per year.

[Right Wing Professor]

Even though the interstate was built to connect Denver and Chicago, you have access to the road via a local interchange

True.

When I first moved to Nebraska, after having lived entirely on the east coast, I was amused to find that a mere ten miles from Lincoln, a city of 1/4 million people, there are full highway exit ramps which immediately turn into gravel roads. The interchange probably cost more to build and maintain than the entire length of highway beyond it.