A major crash at Exit 35 on southbound I-45 at the Fuqua entrance ramp brought early-morning traffic to a standstill Saturday. The wreck happened at 4:28 AM, and responding officers worked to clear the scene as the sun came up over Harris County.
The timing caught drivers early, but this stretch of I-45 sees collisions around the clock. According to LocalTrafficAccidents.com data, the corridor has logged 35 incidents in the past 30 days—17 of them major crashes like this one. Over the past 90 days, the location has recorded 112 total incidents, 65 classified as major.
That's a lot of metal bending at one exit. The busiest window here is the 9-10 AM hour, which sees roughly seven crashes on average, though collisions occur at varied times rather than clustering in a single commute window. Tuesdays have been the most active day historically, with 15 incidents logged over the past three months.
Looking at the broader pattern, state crash records from the Texas Department of Transportation document 629 crashes within about a quarter-mile of this location since January 2020—two of them fatal. Contributing factors as recorded by investigating officers, per TxDOT CRIS, show "Failed To Control Speed" cited most frequently, appearing in 158 of those crashes. Hit-and-runs account for 12.2 percent of incidents here, a meaningful share of the wreckage.
Weather conditions at the time of Saturday's crash were overcast with temperatures at 81 degrees—dry conditions, at least. When wet pavement does show up at this location, the risk equation shifts; TxDOT reports wet conditions contributed to over 14,000 Texas crashes in the most recent annual reporting period.
No word yet on injuries, lane closures, or how long crews needed to clear the debris. Early morning crashes often move faster than rush-hour tangles simply because there's less traffic to work around. If you're headed southbound on I-45 through this exit corridor over the next few hours, stay alert and expect possible delays as cleanup wraps up.
EXIT 35 11401 S IH 45 FWY @ FUQUA ENTR 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.