A major crash blocked SH-288 southbound at the US-90 Alternate exit early Wednesday morning, May 13, at 12:26 AM, snarling traffic in the predawn hours on a corridor that's been hammered by incidents for weeks.
The crash shut down lanes on one of Harris County's most volatile stretches. If you're heading south on 288 toward the Alternate exit in the next few hours, expect delays and plan for a different route — Almeda Road, South Main, or IH-69/US-59 are your best bets to bypass the backup.
Here's what the data tells us: SH-288 southbound at this location has recorded 43 incidents over the past 30 days, according to LocalTrafficAccidents.com data — a classification that puts this corridor in the extreme range. Over the past year, the same stretch has logged 104 total incidents, with 68 of those rated major. This isn't a one-off crash. It's a pattern.
What's particularly notable is that this corridor doesn't follow the typical rush-hour crash profile. Only 30 percent of crashes here happen during peak commute times over the past 90 days. The dominant pattern is off-peak incidents — meaning crashes happen around the clock, regardless of traffic volume. This 12:26 AM crash fits squarely into that pattern. Fridays remain the worst day at this location with 19 incidents in the past quarter, but crashes are distributed heavily across the entire week.
The highest concentration of crashes here clusters around 2 PM to 3 PM on any given day — that's where seven of the 90-day incidents occurred. But the spread is wide enough that commuters can't point to a single "safer" window.
The crash occurred under clear skies at 72 degrees, so weather wasn't a factor in this particular incident. Visibility was good, road conditions were dry — the crash came down to other variables: driver behavior, speed, vehicle condition, or the road geometry itself.
For context: Harris County as a whole recorded 19,070 incidents in the past 30 days, including 31 fatalities. SH-288 southbound at the US-90 Alternate represents a concentrated cluster — less than one-tenth of one percent of the county's geography, but a disproportionate share of the incident load.
**Current situation:** Lanes are blocked. Expect delays if you're southbound on 288. Take Almeda, South Main, or the IH-69/US-59 parallel route. Check back for updates on when the road clears — we'll have the latest as cleanup and investigation wrap up.
This location had logged 42 crashes in the month before this incident occurred.
Since this crash, 19 more incidents have occurred at this location. Major-severity incidents accounted for 17 of the total.
Crashes have come less often at this location since this incident.
A run of crashes occurred over a span of days.
Together, the incidents make this stretch one of the most active in the county.
Reflecting incident data through May 26, 2026.
SH-288 Southbound at Ost/US-90 Alternate
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.