The location at which three busy freeways intersect near downtown Phoenix remains among the most dangerous stretches of the road for Arizona drivers. In 2021, there were more than 1,700 car crashes in the area. Government officials are exploring what changes could reduce the accident count. Fulton Schools Professor Ram Pendyala, a transportation engineering and director of the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, says the confluence of those layered highways makes it a place where a lot of drivers are merging their vehicles and changing multiple lanes at high speeds, leading to crashes. These types of interchanges can be very efficient in keeping traffic flowing, Pendyala says, but the downside is a reduction in safety.