Federal crash data showed that over 15 years, there were 34 fatal cross-median crashes statewide.
Mike Humphrey holds a photo of his late wife, Pam Humphrey, and sister, Ann Quinn in this May 2026 photo. They died May 14, 2008, in a cross-median crash on Interstate 10.
Lauren De Young, Arizona Republic
ADOT declined two interview requests and did not reply to emailed questions. Instead, an ADOT spokesperson provided an emailed statement and a link to the agency’s Roadway Design Guide.
“ADOT builds and maintains highways that meet state and federal guidelines. When the guidelines call for them, median barriers are installed,” the unnamed spokesperson wrote.
Humphrey has, for more than a decade, battled ADOT to put cable or concrete barriers along I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson.
“Once I could start thinking clearly again, I was thinking I need to make something positive out of what happened to them because that kind of death seemed like it could have been prevented,” he said.
Now, the section of I-10 where Glazer and Humphrey lost their families is under construction — and a barrier is being built.
The 26-mile Wild Horse Pass project includes widening the freeway to three lanes in each direction and installing a barrier in the narrowed median.
“Despite ADOT’s inaction, it’s going to get done,” Humphrey said.
A deadly I-10 crash in a blink of an eye
The crash happened in the blink of an eye.
It was a bright, sunny Thursday afternoon in August 2007. It was hot ― about 110 degrees, Diana Glazer remembered. She, with her husband and young daughter in tow, had just dropped off her older daughter at the University of Arizona for her freshman year.
“That was going to be the sad thing in our life,” Diana said. “We had just had a party, a goodbye party for her, and I said, ‘Oh, I’m going to walk by your room and be sad.’