DENNVER -- An exclusive 7NEWS investigation questions why the state's Transportation Department and T-REX are ignoring your safety. Our digging has uncovered a shocking increase in the number of crashes and injuries on one section of the highway and the state knew nothing about it.

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7NEWS Looks Into High Number Of Accidents Along T-REX Corridor

7NEWS Investigator Tony Kovaleski has been exposing the wrecks on T-REX.

The police chief of Greenwood Village and the state's Department of Transportation are scrambling to explain what 7NEWS has found -- an alarming increase in crashes and injuries in the T-REX corridor between Belleview and Arapahoe Road with no explanations.

Colorado residents are recalled their wrecks on T-REX.

"I slammed on my brakes and I thought, 'Oh my god. I am going to crash I am going to crash,'" said T-REX accident victim Nadine Casey.

"We are so lucky we didn't die," said T-REX accident victim Regina Russell.

"Really, it is a demolition derby," said T-REX accident victim Joni Moss. "You see it coming, there is nothing you can do because there is nowhere to go on T-REX."

Two times in just six months drivers crashed into the back of Moss' car.

"It is so dangerous, so dangerous," Moss said.

Casey collided with a car stalled on the highway.

"Had those barricades not been there he would have been off the road and that would not have happened," Casey said.

Russell crashed after trying to avoid a T-REX construction truck slowly merging from a work zone.

"As soon as we stopped I had blood running down my arm. My husband was knocked out. My baby's in the back covered in glass screaming," Russell said.

Russel said she is blaming T-REX for her accident.

Our 7NEWS investigation has found that Russell, Casey and Moss are not alone.

All three survived crashes on the two-mile stretch of the construction area between Belleview and Arapahoe Road.

7NEWS Investigates analyzed and compared crash reports from the year before construction began to the first 12 months of lane changes, barricades and bulldozers.

7NEWS found that during the first year of T-REX construction, crashes increased by 44 percent, the number vehicles involved in crashes was up 46 percent, and perhaps most alarming, injuries increased by 144 percent.

"I was mad because you found it and we didn't. That was my first reaction," said Greenwood Village Police Chief Jim Sanderson. "I mean it is a 'Wow.' It's like, 'Wow, we've gotta look at this and say what the heck's going on out there?'"

The two-mile T-REX corridor analyzed by 7NEWS Investigates cuts through the heart of Greenwood Village.

Kovaleski: Fair to say there's a problem here?
Sanderson: I think there's a problem.

The city has responded to our findings by beginning its own investigation.

"It tells me I failed because perhaps I should have been looking at this, enforcing the issue. I'm responsible for safety in Greenwood Village," Sanderson said.

Kovaleski: Were you aware through your accident reports of this kind of increase on T-REX?
Tom Norton/CDOT Executive Director: I was not aware. The accident reports we have looked at do not indicate the level your indicating here.

The state's Department of Transportation was not aware of these numbers: Crashes increased from 385 to 554 and injuries increased from 75 to 183.

The reason is because both CDOT and T-REX have no current system in place to quickly track, analyze and respond to increases in crashes and injuries on the 14-mile T-REX corridor.

Kovaleski: What I've found is that the accident reports don't exist. There is not an apples to apples comparison. To me, that is a problem.
Norton: It is a problem that we are addressing ... We have a major increase of accidents rates in construction zones. And through your investigation and our ability to look at those, we need to reduce them.

The unanswered question is why the increase?

Law enforcement and CDOT have pointed to high speeds and driver error.

Crash victims blame the highway, poor lighting, narrow lanes, and construction gravel.

KOA radio traffic reporter Jayson Luber monitors T-REX every morning and evening.

"Four-lanes, high speeds, ever changing lane markers, shorter lanes... It's going to cause problems," Luber said.

Kovaleski: Is it a problem with the drivers or is it a problem with the roadway?
Luber: I think it's a combination of the two. I think its changing the way people are driving.

So while the state now works to explain the increases, drivers will wait for solutions while negotiating the daily danger.

"It's hazardous. It's horrible. It's a death trap," Russell said.

"Someone's got to figure this out. They've got to figure out what they can do for this area," Moss said.

Casey and Moss were not cited and were not at fault for their crashes. CDOT and Greenwood Village are both investigating the increase in accidents uncovered by 7NEWS.

Both agencies expect to produce some kind of answers in the next two weeks. The police chief in Greenwood Village said one option to increase safety would be to open up the HOV lane on that section of T-REX.