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SlipperyJim said:
I agree with thejeff. The main reason I build forts is to protect my mages. Nothing sucks like having a whole team of sages wiped out by Call of the Wild/Winds or (worst of all!) a random unlucky event. Say, for example, that Caspar finds the deepest cave in the middle of your research lab, and then your sages all get trampled by Troglodytes.... 
The OP is right that fortresses aren't much good for defending chokepoints. It's ironic, but true. It's usually much easier to defend a chokepoint by purchasing a load of PD (especially if your PD is decent) and a lab, then send in a couple of mages to summon new (cheap) beasties every month. For example, if you have E2 mages, Clockwork Horrors are nasty & cheap.
Another good reason to build a fort is to maximize the income of a rich province. Any province with a high population and a good income will get a substantial boost from a fortress. After several turns, that fortress has paid for itself, and the rest of the game is pure profit.
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It's important to be careful if you're trying to build fortresses for increased income. They never really pay for themselves in the short run. A fortress increases the income of the province that it's built in by a % value equal to (admin value)/2. If you have a 1000 gold fortress Citadel with admin of 40 and you build it in a plains that rakes in 200 gold a turn. That means you get 20% more gold each turn (40 gold a turn). You aren't making any profit off of this investment until *25 turns* have passed. 25 turns is a long time to earn back no money on your investment. If you put 1,000 gold into troops you'd be more likely to invade a neighbor, take a territory, and see a quicker return.
That doesn't mean that you should never build a fortress to increase income, in some circumstances, especially if you have great scales, it's a good idea. Especially with some of the higher admin fortresses. Just keep in mind how slow the payback will be.
Also, it's important to note that I completely ignored growth scales in the above calculations, which would make your return come back faster. If someone with more time would like to add that in, feel free to!
Jazzepi