human transportation in the abstract is the internet
data is people
data packets / rates (related tech) are the various vehicle types
there was a time of no highways, what need do horse drawn carriages have for paved asphalt?
highways are a direct though not immediate consequence of American car and civic planning policy
if instead we had focused on mixed use walkable cities with connected mass transit instead of urban sprawl highways would be much reduced if not gone, just look at existing examples in eu etc
so yes American cars and every nuance that implies in our current American reality are fucking highways