> Modern society has an insane demand for transportation. Roads – the medium on which we transport things – are the fabric on which cities are built. Not just inside the cities, but the vast network of roads outside the city, that feed it.

This is a very American point of view IMO.

Cities are built on streets first and foremost. Otherwise you end up with strip malls separated by endless swaths of car parks.

As for transportation, we have to separate cargo from people, and inner city from inter-city.

For people inside the city you have multi-modal transport options. Walking, biking, busses, trams, subways, commuter trains, taxis, individual cars, ferries.

For intercity people you have trains, planes, boats, busses, individual cars.

Most inner city cargo can be handled by smaller trucks going from warehouses to specific places in the city. And for smaller cargo like mail I've even seen small scooters and cargo bikes.

For inter-city you once again have multi-modal transport (depending on the city). Trucks, rail, cargo planes, boats.

Even the US was built on railways, not on roads. Roads are the "backbone of cities" only if you make them one, as the US has done