Los Angeles' traffic congestion, of course, is well documented. You might even say "legendary."
So maybe it's no surprise that some LA residents have taken up a new pastime: fantasy transit maps:
[A]mateur cartographers are re-imagining public transportation in Los Angeles by crafting ambitious conceptual maps that depict the county blanketed with an East Coast-style rail network.
Their transit networks look convincingly like the stylized, color-coded visual aids posted in city buses and trains.
But the fantasy maps depict future transportation routes even their creators acknowledge will probably never be built.
The conceptual maps, like this one from 25-year-old Numan Parada, or this one from Damien Goodmon, also 25, are impressively professional.
Critics say such elaborate rail lines don't make sense in a place like LA, which they argue doesn't have the density to support these systems.
But the maps' designers hope they can at least stimulate discussion of an integrated mass transit system for LA County.
Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach has written about a range of topics, including social policy issues and urban planning and design. Originally from Tennessee, he joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
E-mail: zpatton@governing.com 
Written and compiled by staff writers and editors, GOVERNING View is an on-the-ground, and sometimes behind-the-scenes, look at the topics we're covering in print and online. From notes on what's up in statehouses, county courthouses and city halls, to encounters with people, places and things, GOVERNING View is a window into the side of state and local government you don't always see.
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