Think of it the other extreme though. Imagine governments never borrowed and only used actual 'cash' to build things. I suspect that virtually nothing would have been built over the past 200 years and the world economy would be 1% the size it currently is.200 years ago had vastly different taxation methods than today, so I'll stick to the last 100 years.
Your point is countered, by the fact that governments build roads, bridges, and more without any debt or by borrowing money. I think you are underestimating how large a budget governments of all levels have, especially when 50% of it is being used to finance debt. That 50% of tax income, literally disappearing to pay only interest on debt, instead could (for larger cities) literally be used to plop down cash for a bridge in one year.
A lot of this could be solved by better allocating taxation to its intended purpose. There are gas taxes, but often those taxes are appropriated into a general budget. Far better if those taxes were only used for roads, and adjusted accordingly.
(Even if you decide that some gas tax should be an 'environmental' tax, a portion of that gas tax can be allocated as 'road tax', and the above still gels. This could also be a 'tire' tax, or a 'register your car' tax, the method does not matter.)
There is a lot of nuance with taxation, but quite literally throwing 50% of tax revenue away just to pay interest to bankers is very poor form.
I want to add here that, as a Canadian, this isn't a "team" thing in the mental sphere of US politics. And regardless, every single government in the US, federal, state, and often city engages in this practice, regardless of political bent.
This is a "governments love to give things to get votes" problem, which covers all political spheres, and harms us all.