Before you wax poetic about this period, please read more on the complete disregard for the families and communities impacted by the large construction projects from that time. Replies comparing the US today to China would also benefit from the same. Public works has a lot of issues with cost and inefficiencies, but I think we should all be happy that eminent domain is not wielded with the same disregard for human life as it once was.
Interestingly, the Golden Gate Bridge pioneered worker safety measures while the Bay Bridge (built at the same time) followed the status quo of almost no consideration to safety.
The difference was, basically, how much management cared about the issue.
For a really rough comparison, you can look at the building of the east span of the Oakland Bay bridge. It's also worth noting how many people died while building them. (Disclosure: I've never looked this up or done this comparison myself)