A crash brought US-290 Northwest to a standstill on the eastbound side at Huffmeister Road around 11:31 AM on Wednesday, May 13. The collision blocked multiple lanes during what should've been a routine mid-morning window, backing up traffic and forcing commuters into a hours-long snarl.
Emergency crews were called out immediately, but the damage was substantial enough that recovery took time. Multiple lanes remained closed as crews worked the scene, leaving drivers stuck in the backup with no quick way through.
This is the second major crash at this exact location in just the past month. According to LocalTrafficAccidents.com data, US-290 Northwest eastbound at Huffmeister has logged 9 incidents over the past 30 days — 8 of them major collisions. Over the past three months, that count climbs to 15 total incidents, with 9 classified as major. The pattern here isn't random: LTA data shows Wednesdays are the most volatile day at this location (5 incidents in the past 90 days), and the 11 AM hour is the peak crash window with 3 incidents during that same period. Today's crash landed squarely in both windows.
What's striking is that this wasn't even peak rush hour — it happened mid-morning, an off-peak time window. Yet nearly 30% of crashes at this location over the past 90 days have occurred during traditional rush hours, suggesting congestion and speed variance are consistent factors regardless of the time of day.
The weather was clear at the time — 87 degrees and no rain — so conditions weren't a factor in this incident.
If you were stuck on 290 eastbound during the backup, your best bets for next time are FM 1960 or Cypress-Rosehill Road for northwest segments, or Hempstead Road for inner segments. All three offer reasonable alternatives when the freeway grinds to a halt.
Harris County as a whole logged 19,108 incidents over the past month, including 31 fatalities, so a single major crash on a well-traveled corridor doesn't surprise — but the concentration at this specific location does. Nine incidents in 30 days at one on-ramp isn't a fluke.
By early afternoon, lanes began reopening, but residual delays persisted. If you're commuting through this area over the next few days, leave extra time and stay alert — this stretch demands it.
8 incidents had occurred at this location in the 30 days prior.
9 crashes have happened at this location after this incident. Major crashes made up 4 of the subsequent incidents.
The location's incident pace has stayed close to its prior rate.
Multiple crashes occurred at this location within a tight time window.
That places this location among the highest-incident segments in the county.
Counts run through May 27, 2026.
US-290 Northwest Eastbound at Huffmeister Rd
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.