While roads and bridges to nowhere are getting a bad rap these days, it's also the case that we've been building roads and highways to nowhere for decades. They aren't to "nowhere," of course, but they (highways in particular) are built at capacities much greater than necessary for expected near term traffic. Depending on your perspective you can see these things as wasteful pork spending or justifiable and desirable public infrastructure investment, but the point is we do build them.
We'll know that thinking on transportation has changed when regional development plans make sure to include at least maintaining right of ways for future mass transit construction, if not actual SUPERTRAINS to nowhere. And, ideally, lines would be built or extended in anticipation of future development in order to shape the character of that development.
Not going to hold my breath, however.
