This is a huge time sink for transit projects. For example, the sepulveda rail project in LA has like 6 alternatives right now going from heavy rail, monorail,

This is a huge time sink for transit projects. For example, the sepulveda rail project in LA has like 6 alternatives right now going from heavy rail, monorail, above and below grade, a few different routings. Each requires careful study as if you were going to commit 100% to it, millions of dollars probably in expensive engineering labor, even though realistically only 1 alternative (the heavy rail offering the fastest end to end time) is rumored to be considered. Still, the agency got proposed by this monorail maker, so to act in good faith they have to claim they did their due diligence and came up with these plans showing that yes, in fact, the monorail is inferior to the heavy rail alignment. If you have any community groups opposing any aspect of the project, prepare to spend 2 years refining further useless alternatives to satisfy each and every nitpick. Both community groups (and these are not representative of the community, but more the loudest and angriest with the most time to spare of the community) and companies exploit this good faith planning to extend timelines, increase costs, and often dilute the end product to the detriment of the public that this "community engagement" process is supposed to protect.