A major crash on I-45 Gulf northbound at Wayside and US-90 Alternate brought traffic to a standstill Thursday morning at 11:05 AM, adding to an already troublesome stretch of highway that's seen extraordinary crash activity in recent weeks.
The northbound lanes backed up significantly as crews worked the scene. If you're heading north on 45 in that area, you've got options: Hardy Toll Road, SH-249 northwest toward The Woodlands, or local routes via Airline Drive will get you around the delay. Clear skies and 90-degree heat made conditions favorable for driving, but that didn't prevent the collision.
This crash lands on a corridor that's anything but quiet. According to LTA data, I-45 northbound at Wayside has logged 51 incidents over the past 30 days—24 of them major. Over 90 days, that number climbs to 171 total incidents, with 81 classified as major. The stretch has seen 262 crashes in the past year, including 3 fatalities. The busiest hour here is 4 to 5 PM, when the data shows 13 crashes typically occur, though collisions happen throughout the day rather than clustering in just one peak window.
State crash records add more context. Per TxDOT CRIS public crash records, this corridor has recorded 1,376 crashes since January 2020, with
IH-45 Gulf Northbound at Wayside/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.