CLAREMORE, Okla.— A mother grieving over her toddler son’s death is hoping changes are coming to alleviate the city’s long standing railroad traffic problems.
"What if we got there a little bit sooner, what if,” asked Tasha Blan.
It's a question circling through Tasha Blan’s head since a tragedy at her home last week killed her 14-month-old son Jules.
The toddler made his way out of the house into the family’s backyard Oct. 5th. He drowned in the family’s pool.
“I looked at the pool I didn't see him at first, I jumped off the porch and he was in there,” Blan said.
Blan grabbed Jules from the pool and brought him inside, in a desperate attempt to save his life.
“I was just getting the water out and then my son got the phone to call 911 they were on there and trying to talk and they were trying to say things to me but I told them our address but I couldn't talk to them because I was trying to do CPR,” she said.
Blan was following in her car behind the ambulance with her son when it was stopped by a train on Blue Star on the way to the hospital. She says she felt helpless when the crossing bar went down and now she wonders if the little bit of time could have made a difference.
“I just don't know if those few seconds or minutes meant or mattered but they matter to me,” she said.
The grieving mom blames only herself for her son’s death— she hopes a railroad bypass comes before it’s too late for another family.
"Why has it been this long, why has no one, why would it take a tragedy or more, I may not be the last one,” she said.
There is a Go Fund Me Page to help the family.
Claremore’s city manager has been working to address this issue for years and has looked at building a track overpass but money has always been an obstacle. ODOT meanwhile is planning a bypass south of town. But that project is not happening until 2021.
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