CARY, N.C. -- Ever get stuck at a train crossing?  

If you spend much time in downtown Cary, it's bound to happen, with tracks going right through the heart of town.

Plans are in the works to extend Walker Street to Chapel Hill Road. That includes a new underpass which would allow drivers to avoid waiting for a train.

There's not much to do if you get trapped by the train, and it happens more than a dozen times a day.

"I sit there and twiddle my thumbs," said Sallie Jones, from Cary.

Cary officials are hoping the $15 million underpass will make things a little easier.

The goal is to put it about a block west of Academy Street by extending Walker Street some 400 yards.

Right now, if a train's coming through, the only option for emergency vehicles -- or anyone else trying to get past -- is to drive about half a mile out of the way to Durham Road.

"That's a good example of what this crossing would look like as well," said Russ Overton, Engineering Field Services Manager for the town of Cary. "With the railroad track would be bridged and the road would go underneath it."

There are four different possibilities the town is looking at for now -- some of which go through town-owned land for the most part, and some of which venture onto private property a little more.

Even some people whose property would probably be affected say some sort of crossing here at Walker Street is probably necessary.

"One of the options," said Cary resident Adam Kennedy, "Went right by our property, and it would almost be touching the structure. So we weren't really sure how that would affect us."

The town has about two years to settle on a plan before they start construction.

Until then, it's just a waiting game for those who get stuck.

"I sat at the railroad track one day and counted a train with 206 cars before it ended," said Jones. "Almost 25 minutes."

Cary is footing the bill for most of the project, but the town is getting a nearly $1 million federal grant that was approved just before New Year's.