yes many platforms require this for routing and when crossing perpendicular to traffic or when going from path to path... makes sense to have. Many paths are completely inaccessible to map/route, because there is never a connection to a road or path. Especially where people are riding bikes on them.

updated new/extended road across Crosstown that was previously a temporary culdesac in new neighborhood on the north. Goes through now to new devo on south. old road 173 ave no longer is a thru street all the way to crosstown it is just a service road/driveway for the two houses there.

Yes just setting Bicyle to Yes or Designated does help. However some devices or websites handle the data different. A bike GPS might not show the sidewalk. When a path is a 2-4meter wide paved asphalt multiuse path... it shouldn't be marked as a 'footpath' or a 'sidewalk' that allows bikes, it should be marked as a 'cycle and foot path' as that is what it is. Either process takes similar number of mouse clicks to update, so I'd prefer it to be the foolproof update to make it work well/properly across any platform using OSM data.