FORT PAYNE, Ala. (WHNT) — Traffic problems due to delayed or broken down trains are starting to become a common problem in Fort Payne, according to the Mayor and some residents.

Thousands of cars go back and forth across the railroad tracks in downtown Fort Payne. Train delays in the area are nothing new to those who are from here.

A train broke down there for two hours Friday, leaving people with barely any way to get around it.

One Fort Payne resident, Eric Crane, said the train tracks cause trouble for him getting anywhere from his home nearby.

“It’s pretty bad because like I said, every time I try to leave my house… it’s right there, right where I need to cross. So every time I need to go anywhere, I have to either go to the other end of town or back down to that other end to get where I need to go, to get across the tracks,” said Crane.

Trains that come through the town usually block three or four crossings in the middle of downtown, but one train broke down on the tracks last week. That broken-down train caused the closure of at least eight to ten crossings for two hours.

Fort Payne Mayor Brian Baine said the broken-down train may have blocked all but one of the town’s railroad crossings.

“That was a train that came apart. It broke one of the connections, so it actually took up all the crossings downtown. I think 14th street north was the only crossing that was open for approximately about two hours,” said Baine.

Mayor Baine says this just provides more reason Fort Payne needs an overpass, which he has proposed to the state.

“It would alleviate a lot of that having an alternate route to go over the train tracks. I don’t know what the best solution there is,” Baine said. “We hope this feasibility study will let us know what the best route is to go with this overpass. I did hear from some folks in Washington that let me know that hey, you know, this has been noticed.”

A $1 million request for a feasibility study to see if Fort Payne can get an overpass has been proposed by U.S. Representative Robert Aderholt, but has not yet been accepted.