earned a reputation as a constantly congested road, despite having only three traffic signals. As an attempt at decreasing congestion, a grade-separated interchange at University Drive was built in 1985. The bridge was built to handle two lanes of traffic in each direction though without a shoulder or emergency lane. (This has been identified as a reason of the traffic backups still seen today, as the rest of the freeway is now built to three lanes on either side, thus creating a bottleneck at the University Drive overpass.) In 1985, the route was surveyed as part of the new Maricopa Association of Governments 1985 Freeway Plan, and was added to the system with a reroute and upgrade to freeway status. Business Loop I-10 was renamed to SR 143 and was realigned to meet up with the under-construction Loop 202 at 48th Street, as opposed to the old 44th Street alignment. Eventually the route from Sky Harbor Blvd. to Loop 202 was moved onto an entirely new path along the Old Cross Cut Canal right-of-way, roughly paralleling 46th St. beginning at Washington St. Draft plans also included extending the route 2 miles further north along the relatively narrow 48th Street/canal corridor, curving over McDowell Rd. and ending abruptly at Indian School Rd. The route, which is almost entirely residential, met with significant neighborhood opposition and was eventually dropped, although the north-bound exit and south-bound entrance at McDowell Rd. was retained. Construction timeline February 1991: University Drive to Sky Harbor Boulevard November 1991: Sky Harbor Boulevard to Washington Street February 1992: Washington Street to McDowell Road January 2011: Major interchange improvements at Loop 202 2021-2024: Interchange improvements as a part of the I-10/Broadway Curve expansion Safety concerns At the southern terminus of the freeway, SR 143 begins at the intersection of 48th Street and Broadway, climbing over Interstate 10 on the original 48th Street bridge built without any shoulder lanes in 1967. Traffic heading southbound at this point is warned of a traffic signal that hides over the optical horizon of the overpass to most traffic. To combat safety issues raised by the lack of visibility of the main traffic signals, a second traffic signal was installed at a higher elevation so that it is visible to traffic on the northern approach of the overpass. At one point, the second signal included a high-intensity strobe embedded in the red signal; however, the