If you've ever driven in Bakersfield, chances are you've been stuck at a railroad crossing. At one intersection, the traffic can last for hours. So why hasn't anything been done?

Next to the big freeways, Rosedale Highway is the busiest road in the county. so why not take care of the problem? Money.

It's a familiar scene on Rosedale Highway. Traffic backed up for miles, while a train loads and unloads cars. Some people we talked to didn't mind.

Ted Reaves, Stuck in Traffic, "Rosedale Highway has got too much traffic, but trains is not a big problem."

Tell that to people like Sean Mechanley, " I come up and down Rosedale Highway all day long. I'm a parts runner for the company... and it's a constant hassle."

He's just one of the people who had plenty of time to talk to us while a train blocked the road, going back and forth loading and unloading cars.

Reporter: "You guys get stuck in this traffic before?"

Everett Trame, Stuck in Traffic, "Oh about 2-3 times a week... for 30 minutes or better."

David Van Amstel, Stuck in Traffic, "I've sat here in this place 30 minutes 40 minutes several times."

The people that work near the tracks on Rosedale see the train everyday. They tell us it usually comes around 8 a.m., Noon and 5 p.m., the busiest times of the day on one of the county's busiest roads.

Even the cops have had a problem.

Ofc. Greg Williams, California Highway Patrol, "It can be a nightmare."

but like the rest of us, there's nothing the police can do because train tracks are considered private property and the railroad companies are governed by the Public Utilities Commission, not the vehicle code.

PUC regulations say a train can only block an intersection for 10 minutes then the conductor has to move. But there's nothing keeping him from hitting reverse and blocking the tracks again.

Does that really help the traffic situation? Not really. It's starts the clock back over again. So they're allowed to have another 10 minutes.

So how do we fix the train traffic on Rosedale Highway?

Suggestions are an overpass or an underpass.

So why hasn't it been done? After all, Rosedale Highway is one of the busiest roads in the county.

Paul Rojas is Director of the Bakersfield Public Works Department. He's in charge of road improvements in the city. His office has received numerous phone calls about the intersection.

Rojas, "They get frustrated obviously that they have to wait so long for a train that seems to be sitting there."

To build an overpass would cost nearly $30 million dollars. Rojas said the city has asked the state for money but even if the check came tomorrow, the construction project itself would take years.

So Rojas sent a letter to San Joaquin Valley Railroad asking if the cars could be laded at a different time when traffic isn't so heavy?

Rojas, "They have politely said the can't do that".

But why? We went to the railroad to find out.

After making several phone calls, I finally got this statement from San Joaquin's general manager Randy Perry. "Our crews are very conscious of blocking that intersection, but it's being done to serve the local businesses."

But that's little consolation when you're stuck in traffic.

There are 114 different railroad crossings in the state that are waiting for an overpass.

This one here on Rosedale is 86th in line. The reason: It's mostly cargo trains that go through here and they go pretty slow.

Other crossings have AMTRAK trains which come by at 50 mph. Those are considered more dangerous. And in this case, safety is weighted more heavily than convenience.

View the documents given to Reporter John Dabkovich:

Consumer Protection and Safety Division rail transit and crossings branch

Railroad Priority list for 2008-2009