Where they spent several days on a ship sailing with nothing around them ... They traveled nearly half the distance of Andor before they got to the road after White Bridge. And while Nynaeve and the girls were on the Cairheinin side of the river, the Andoran side was just as empty... More empty, IIRC, they chose that side of the river because the nearest town was on that side.

I would point out that without the Tower civilization would be in a different place. The Compact of Nations would never have been founded, without Tar Valon the Trolloc Wars would have destroyed humanity and after Hawkwings Empire crumbled there would have been endless wars of succession. The Tower has certainly seen grander days and had far better politics, but calling them wrong is unfair. Only the most foolish AS think they can do whatever they please (Elaida) with no consequences. Elayne leveraged her relationship in a perfectly legitimate way according to the laws of her land.

The "Vote" you refer to is a joke, she got most of her support because they knew she had won. And technically she wouldn't have needed the major houses to stand for her if events had not been what they were ... Morgase vanishing, Elayne missing and Rand and Rahvin occupying Caemlyn. Under normal circumstances she would have simply inherited her throne with a minimum of fuss.

The Queen has said nothing about plans for the Two Rivers. There are already so many changes happening there it wouldn't much matter in any case. If Elayne denied Perrin, Ghealdan, Arad Domon, and the Seanchan are all potential threats to the Two Rivers ... Just being the homeland of the Dragon marks the Two Rivers out as we saw when the White Cloaks marched right into an unprotected Two Rivers and started slaughtering people.

The Seanchan and the White Cloaks are seen as despotic by nearly every character in the series. I agree that Seanchan rule certainly brings stability to territory they rule, but they do so based on a rule of fear of the throne. The Children are pretty much universally hated as bullies and thugs. I'd say the WoT world condemns both groups even if they are clearly not universally bad.

Elayne has no clue about steam engines or their potential, even still it will take generations to build and begin using this new technology effectively. Face it, the technology of the land is the One Power ... And the transportation Sysems will take decades to evolve.

Prove that the nations need more robust economies? Go read the books. It's all over the place. No middle class, trades that are specific to regions (Taraboner Dyes, Tearean Rugs, Lugard Lace etc...). The economy of Cairhein was built for 500 years by the Silk trade through the Waste. Andor is known for steel... Nynaeve, Elayne and Egwene get an earful for the ship captain about how unfair it was because Andor had mountains and mines which gave them the resources they needed for such production. Economic growth is in desperate need and reliable transportation is one of the keys to this.

Imagine how much better any economy becomes with reliable, fast, mass transit... At this point in time only the Seafolk offer this capability. Andor has enough major water ways to benefit immensely from reliable shipping under a central control. Merchants and farmers can quickly strike deals with the SF that will lend consistency to the cost of shipping rather than waiting on unreliable merchant trains or Peddlers.