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After 12 years of campaigning, planning and building, the CSX railroad overpass in Bladensburg opened Sunday, relieving drivers accustomed to sitting in traffic on Route 450 as trains cross the road.

Drivers used to have to wait an average of 15 minutes for the trains to pass, which sometimes caused one-mile traffic back-ups on Route 450, according to State Highway Administration statistics. About 25 to 30 trains, including long freights, pass through the intersection everyday.

SHA spokesman Chuck Gischlar said the new overpass will not only eliminate traffic delays for drivers, but also for emergency personnel.

"This is a great thing because it's going to eliminate that stoppage after we switch the train traffic, which will increase local first responders' time," Gischlar said on Friday, before the switch. "It will stop that big back-up."

Prince George's County Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady said first responders were aware of the delays on Route 450 caused by the trains, which were "very long and very slow."

"Typically we would have units already responding from the other side of that train stop to try and minimize the amount of delay," he said. "We're extremely grateful for [the overpass]. That will alleviate any response delays that may have been caused by that train."

Although the overpass is one part of the $74 million project, it is the cornerstone and will have the biggest impact on motorists, Gischlar said.

The 1.2-mile project, slated for completion by fall 2009, includes two new bridges to carry railcars over Upshur Street in Bladensburg and an Anacostia River tributary.

According to SHA statistics, more than 40,000 vehicles travel Route 450 every day, a number expected to increase to 63,000 by 2030.

Trains tracks also went through Tanglewood Drive, which will remain closed until Sept. 29. Crews will also pull up the old rail tracks and repave the streets, causing a week of intermittent lane closures along Route 450 in late September or early October, Gischlar said.

Joe Osterman, a Bladensburg resident of more than 70 years, said he's been waiting years for the trains to be diverted from running through Route 450.

"It really affected people's driving, because you take a person who's irritated and it's a probability that when he leaves there, he's upset," he said.

Port Towns residents campaigned in 1996 for the train tracks to be moved, but the project was stalled after falling $10 million short of the then $70 million construction budget. In 2004, the state allocated the needed funding for the project.

Osterman, 100, recalled telling one elected official, "I don't think you and I will live long enough to see that train running across the bridge," he said.

Today, trains run above cars that no longer sit in a long line of traffic.

"Well, it's wonderful," Osterman said. "For at least 40 or 50 years, people were fed up with it."

E-mail Elahe Izadi at eizadi@gazette.net.