A long wait while a train crosses the road can happen in just about any Nebraska town, but these days it's worse than ever in Columbus.

Residents there don't have an open overpass across railroad tracks.

The community has six open crossings.

A 25th Avenue crossing has been closed by Union Pacific, and a 26th Avenue crossing will close in July for a couple of weeks.

Dean Luedtke knows the frustration of waiting at Columbus' 23rd Avenue railroad crossing.

"There's sometimes you can sit here for 15 minutes without any problem, and you can see right now there's not even a train crossing," said Luedtke, who works in Columbus.

City and Union Pacific officials say patience and timing is key while Columbus' only viaduct is closed for construction.

"Occasionally 26th Avenue will get back up for a couple of blocks because of the trains will take a couple of minutes to get by, and when there are 10,000 cars a day wanting to go through that intersection sometimes there are some cars that are cued up," said Columbus Mayor Mike Moser.

Moser says many people use the 26th Avenue crossing because it is the closest to the closed viaduct, adding to congestion there.

"We operate about 65 trains per day through the area," said Mark Davis of Union Pacific. "So you have a lot of opportunities some time through the day to be held at a crossing for a train going by."

As the cross bars continue to go up and down, tempers run hot.

Some residents say this all could have been prevented if another viaduct was built years ago.

City officials say, they tried.

"In 2002 there was a viaduct proposal made and the voters turned it down," said Moser.

With no new viaduct, when a train barrels through town there's no way to get across unless it's an emergency.

"We get in touch with U.P.'s primary communication center. They start working with the railroad dispatch to identify some windows that they can either speed up or slow down trains and give them windows that we can get these squads across the tracks," said Columbus Police Chief William Gumm.

Those not critically injured just have to wait until the end of the year, when the viaduct is expected to re-open.

In January, voters in Columbus did approve a new viaduct proposal, which includes two new overpasses.

Construction on a Third Avenue viaduct isn't scheduled until 2011.

Construction on the existing viaduct is expected to be completed in November or December.