Long sections of the bike path I ride in on have been repaved and even more of it is under reconstruction. And today I took a streets route to sign a contract for a job and it's a street I've always hated to ride on and it's curbs have been moved back and bike lanes painted on the road- so much better! I've been a bike commuter for 40 years and about 30 of those years have been in Boston and NYC. It is amazing how much better it is with the added infrastructure in both of those cities. I have bike lanes now on my streets route (8 miles) to almost a mile from my house and it really does make a difference.

It's kind of like the difference between living broke and living with a little money in your pocket- sure, the former is possible but not always pleasant (to say the least) and the latter is a lot easier even though money doesn't solve all your problems.