Hi,
sorry, I do not know exactly how `highway=path` and `highway=track` are handled in the US but I think your view is too car-centric. Yes, the tiger import was of low quality, though, in Europe I would only change the highway's value and add a `FIXME=recheck existence` instead of deleting and I was really surprised that "Modified geometry" includes the deletions of several ways. How about asking the community e.g. at https://community.openstreetmap.org/c/communities/us/78?
Regards,
skyper