That is probably a bit unfair on TfL which is no worse than any other similar sized organisation.
It is still quite engineer-led which is generally a good thing but I think there are lots of projects for project's sake being started at the moment to keep people in work. Although most of the budget for a project should be spent in the construction stage much of this goes to outside contractors so for an individual's employment prospects it is better to be in the design stage. TfL clearly don't have the money to build all the cycle lane projects they are currently consulting on.
Engineers would be totally uninterested in what the public had to say about their designs and a negative response to a consultation would kill it stone dead therefore they are quite happy for it not to be publicised effectively.
