A significant vehicle collision brought traffic to a crawl on the Eastex Freeway at 3:19 PM on Friday afternoon, March 06, 2026. The crash occurred near the 22998 mile marker in Montgomery County, disrupting the tail end of the Friday afternoon commute during one of the busiest travel windows of the week.
Drivers heading north and south on the Eastex faced substantial delays as emergency crews worked the scene. The collision happened right in the heart of the afternoon rush, compounding typical Friday traffic patterns that already see heavy volumes on this corridor. Commuters looking to bypass the backup should consider taking US-59 north or south depending on their destination, or routing through local roads in the surrounding areas. The Sam Houston Tollway offers another alternative for those with a transponder, though traffic on the outer loop was expected to see spillover volume as word of the crash spread.
This stretch of the Eastex Freeway regularly handles significant through-traffic between Montgomery County and the greater Houston area. The corridor serves as a critical north-south artery for commuters traveling from Humble, Kingwood, and points northeast into the city. Known for heavy congestion during peak hours, this section of roadway has seen its share of incidents over the years, making it a focal point for traffic management during afternoon operations.
The crash remained active in the early hours following the collision, with crews still managing the scene at the time of initial reports. Drivers traveling through Montgomery County on the Eastex should expect extended travel times and plan accordingly. Those with flexibility in their schedules might consider waiting out the heaviest congestion before heading out, as major incidents on this freeway typically take considerable time to clear completely.
Before this incident, the location logged 20 crashes over the prior 30 days.
Crashes at this location have continued — 84 more have been recorded since. The subsequent count included 38 major collisions.
The pace of crashes at this location has picked up since.
Several of those incidents clustered within a short window.
Combined, those incidents make this one of the highest-volume crash locations in the area.
Data updated as of May 28, 2026.
This report was produced by LTA's editor-designed production system under the executive editorial direction of Dennis R. Mundy, Executive Editor. The system combines our proprietary data pipeline with AI-assisted drafting to deliver verified incident coverage to LTA's editorial standards.