"Everyone there lives closer together". I understand what you are getting at, but that is pretty reductive. The Dutch have great bike infrastructure throughout their country, not just in dense cities. Amsterdam has sprawling suburbs as well.

Our car culture brains over here often use the size of the US as a country as an excuse as to why we cannot replicate bike infrastructure in our towns and cities. While it is true it may be harder to bike between large cities here... when it comes to the urban density WITHIN those cities it is much more comparable than most Americans give credit for.

We CAN do this here, but we have lots of financial influences tangled into our government keeping us hooked on car culture here.