There’s plenty of reasons beyond corruption. Repaving a mile of third avenue in Seattle costs a lot more than a mile of downtown Wendell, Idaho which will cost a lot more than chip sealing a mile of dirt road just two miles away from the center of Wendell. Salaries are more expensive in big cities. The job is more complex as the amount of infrastructure beneath the road surface, which requires ongoing access, so lots of man holes. Repaving in a dense urban center requires removing the old pavement, in a rural setting it’ll just be piled on top until it’s been layered four or five times.
There's an explainer (in the aether) comparing the cost of 1 mile of subway in misc locations.
Cost of land is a surprisingly high factor.
I'm generally against eminent domain. Because it's abused so easily and so often. But I would also like the option to build our way out of our messes.
Failing to make the real estate more affordable, maybe we'll innovate our way out. Some combination of telework, The Boring Company, and cheap personal transportation options.
