Except the real issue was that feudal and industrial societies can't coexist in the same framework. Look at how poorly integrated into Europe Russia is, which was feudal and absolutist for far longer than the rest of Europe. Destroying the feudal order of the old South was absolutely necessary to having a functional, modern country. Without the Civil War, or with a sectional conflict that was resolved through compromise and the South being allowed to retain slavery, the US ends up being a backwards, resource-exporting country, rather than a manufacturing center.

Funny story, when I got my first laptop, my dad (who views computers as eldritch devices) told me to be careful about my "tadpoles." I expect to find TFA in my inbox any month now.

Incorrect. Let's look at the example of Chicago. Because there's a giant freakin' lake as the eastern border, it has to spread north-south. So you will, in any train system, end up with something like the Red Line, which runs from the border with Evanston to the far south side. Populations may shift, but you're always going to need mass transit parallel to the lake. You'll also always have an arterial road going along the lake, but as someone who's been stuck on a bus on LSD due to an accident, let me assure you that bus transit is significantly less robust than train transit.