Remember all those adults in the '50's, both younger and older, had experienced the Depression for like 10 years. The electorate was much tighter with their money then - the only big spending on the part of the government was the War effort. That was literally a matter of survival.

Think about SF in the fifties: they saved the 5 streetcar lines with PCC's from St. Louis. The Bay establishment morons must have recognized at heart they would need another Bay Bridge but they were too cheap to build another when it would have been another bargain. They could have saved the Key and connected the SP lines across the Bay.

Ditto earlier with the subway measure of 1937 in SF - failed with opposition from the Market St. Ry. Geary and Mission lines could have been saved.

My Grandmother used to chide me from time to time: "You don't know the value of a dollar."