I'm certainly younger than you but I was born in the area and have lived here my whole life. The number of years I've actually paid attention to any of that is probably fewer than for you. 40 years ago voters turned down a transit package that would have received 75% of its funding from the federal government and would be been completely built by 1985. Most of the opposition centered around the stupid idea that "if you don't build it, they won't come." That somehow NOT building a proper transit system would discourage people from moving to the area. And yeah, fuck studded tires. It's mostly older drivers and soccer moms that use them though. And yeah, the ongoing comedy between the two halves of the state is quite entertaining. The east half complains about all the money they put into "infrastructure they'll never use" and then beg for money to build highways that see fewer cars in a year than a Seattle highway sees in a week.