A major motor vehicle accident shut down the eastbound Exit 776A ramp on I-10 near Mercury early Saturday morning, bringing traffic to a crawl during the pre-dawn hours. Houston Fire Department responded to the collision at 4:24 AM on April 04, 2026, finding a serious wreck that blocked the critical exit point for eastbound drivers heading toward Pasadena and the refineries beyond.
The timing couldn't have been worse for early morning commuters. Though 4:24 AM typically sees lighter traffic than rush hour, the I-10 eastbound corridor was already moving steady volume toward the petrochemical facilities in the Pasadena area. Drivers heading east who encountered the closure faced significant delays, with backups quickly spreading westbound toward Downtown and the 288 interchange. Those needing to reach Pasadena had limited options—the alternate route via I-610 North through Downtown and across I-90 adds substantial time, while surface streets through neighborhood areas like Greens Bayou and Settegast remain slow alternatives.
This section of I-10 East has become a persistent trouble spot in Harris County. LTA data shows 42 major incidents over the past 12 months at Exit 776A and the Mercury ramp area—a stretch that's no stranger to serious collisions. The Mercury exit serves as a critical gateway for industrial traffic heading toward the ship channel and Pasadena refineries, handling a constant flow of heavy trucks and commuter vehicles throughout the day and night. Congestion here often triggers cascading delays across the entire eastbound corridor.
Houston Fire Department had the scene under active management through the early morning hours. Eastbound I-10 traffic experienced significant delays as crews worked the incident, with residual congestion affecting the westbound side as rubber-necking slowed through-traffic. Drivers heading to Southeast Houston and the industrial areas beyond should expect delays into the morning commute and consider alternate routing or delaying travel if possible.
Sources: TxDOT Crash Records Information System and Local Traffic Accidents database. Counts through October 1, 2026.
In the four weeks before this crash, 34 incidents had piled up at this location.
348 more crashes have been recorded at this location in the time since. 301 of those were classified as major. 1 of the crashes since this incident was fatal.
The pace has eased at this location in the time since.
Some of those crashes hit in close succession.
The combined count puts this stretch in the top tier for crashes in the area.
Counts reflect data through October 01, 2026.
EXIT 776A E IH 10 FWY @ MERCURY EXIT RAMP
Harris County, Texas
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.