I'm pretty sure he did realize that, although he probably had other reasons in mind as well. Back then it was standard practice for the U.S. and state DOTs to just go in and level entire neighborhoods to build freeways and other roadways without giving a damn about the impact on people living there or the potential loss of historic structures. "Out with the old, in with the new, and the hell with what the locals think" was the general attitude of planners of the day and we've lost a lot of history because of such shortsided, narrowminded thinking. Mr. Magnuson obviously wasn't a big fan of that sort of thinking and he wasn't going to let the Feds and the state have their way like far too many others had. I'm all for progress, but not when it destroys the history which that progress is built upon. Unfortunately, not too many folks thought that way back in the '60s and '70s and a great many Americans have come to regret such foolish thinking.