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L a s V<g a s , N e v a d a REVIEW - JOURNAL J u n e 1 9 , 1 9 4 7 Delay Costly Another life has. been forfeited on the altar of procrastination. This time it was the life of an infant, born in an ambulance en route to the Clark County General Hos­pital. The child was delivered by a layman ambulance driver who was forced into his role because a Union Pacific freight tram blocked the crossing over which the am­bulance was routed. The freight tram Jplocked the crossing for a period estimated to be about 20 minutes. Had the freight train not been there, the infant probably would have been alive today. This is not the first life which has been forfeited at that crossing. There have been several people killed, and several others se- j riously injured, when trains have mowed them down at the crossing. There have • been others, critically injured, .who have been blocked off for many minutes at a time, who have survived merely because they were healthy and could stand a delay m getting to medical attention. . _ . There have been promises made, by all agencies involved — the Union Pacific, the state highway and the city of Las Vegas—•- that the situation would be corrected by in­stalling an underpass at 'the crossing, lo date, nothing much has been done. The citi­zenry is told that plans are under way for the construction of -an underpass, but they, have been told the same thing for many years. • ... . B| I First of alb the underpass was removed from the program of the highway depart­ment because there was no steel available. Next it was delayed because of a drainage problem.- Now we are told the structure has been placed on the program once again and it will be completed sometime' next year. - Perhaps the delays have been justified, we can’t be sure of that. However, lives are at stake and every, hour of delay means the possibility that more lives will be sac- - rificed at that crossing/ Some program should be worked out to jhsure»free access to the crossing in emergencies if the Under­pass is not to be made available for another year. It is a little beyond :-the thinking pro­cesses of the ordinary individual as to why it is necessary to have a freight tram block that crossing for as much as 20 minutes, it that much time is necessary to get a tram into the local yards, then some method should be worked out whereby the tram can be uncoupled and the crossing left clear while the train is being cleared into the vards; There can be no legitimate excuse ^pr a train to stand that long at the cross­ing, no matter What the procedure m the yards may be. ‘ There might be some explanation for- a blockade of five minutes. There can be no justification for it for longer than that time. Five minutes is a' long time, however1, and could mean the .difference between life and death to someone who is Critically injured and needs medical attention. We don’t know the solution to the prob­lem but it does seem that, with all the brains available among the representatives of the railroad company, the state highway depart­ment and the city administration, some answer could be found. It must be found if there is any-feeling on the part of the representatives, of the various agencies, for the lives of the citizens residing in this area. It should be found and found quicker than a whole year from now/