It is feasible for anyone with some resources to develop improvements in small footprint vehicles that enables high density, independent routing, comfort, safety and speed at the same time.

For rail that requires wide social coordination to overcome its issues, generally either the larger society automatically enables its use, or a smaller group seize power and apply tyranny against the rest of society. I do not support the latter.

From a market mechanism perspective, a user fee correlating to usage of scarce land for vehicle use should fix a big part of the free rider problem that resulted in the popularity of vehicles designed with inefficient footprint for cargo moved.