I don't think that's consistent with the "no funding for highways at all" theme we hear a lot on here.
It's the best. In 2023, approximately 4% of National Highway System bridges by size were in poor condition (it's higher in MA). Similarly, the last time it was measured, the one measure of pavement quality collected large-scale by FHWA had the same 4% of Interstates in poor condition. As a high-level statement, 96% of the major highways in the US are in fair or better condition at the moment. Given (as you point out) the breadth of the system and its age, I don't think that's awful. Other countries may have much smaller systems that are in better condition by some metrics, but the breadth of the system - the way it opens up every corner of the country to economic opportunity - is unmatched in the world.
And I think you kind of made the same point I did: for decades the US considered the system it was building to be the ideal solution. Whether you consider that "propaganda" (and outside of a few GM ads I think I struggle to see it that way), it was backed up by facts: the US economy and internal infrastructure for the movement of goods produced the strongest economy in the history of humans. Highways were definitely not seen as "evil by the majority of citizens" - some specific urban freeways maybe, but not the Interstate System generally.
There are very real negative externalities of highways, but the propaganda today runs the other direction, and it has convinced a relatively small number of mostly city-dewlling Americans that the system they've invested in and depended upon for seven decades is now an evil mistake.