47 crashes in 30 days at I-45 Exit 43B; major wreck Tuesday afternoon

A major motor vehicle incident tied up traffic on southbound I-45 at the Wayside entrance ramp near Exit 43B on Tuesday, June 30 at 1:14 PM. The crash occurred in the middle of the corridor's single busiest hour — the 1 to 2 PM window — when this location routinely sees multiple incidents stacking up.

This wasn't an outlier. According to LTA data, Exit 43B has become a persistent crash hotspot. In the past 30 days alone, 47 incidents have been recorded at this location, with 37 of them classified as major. The 90-day count climbs to 98 total incidents, 51 of them major. Over the past year, the corridor has logged 159 incidents, with 86 classified as major.

The timing pattern here is unusual for the Houston area. Most crashes on major freeways cluster around rush hour — but not at Exit 43B. According to LTA data, most crashes here fall outside the weekday commute peaks, making Tuesday afternoon's 1:14 PM incident typical for this stretch. Wednesday is the single busiest day for incidents at this location, with 18 crashes recorded over the past 90 days.

Responding officers worked the scene under clear skies and 94-degree heat. Specific details on lane closures, vehicle counts, and clearance times are still being finalized.

TxDOT's public crash records paint a broader picture of this corridor's history. Since January 2020, state records document 792 crashes within about a quarter-mile of this location — just one of them fatal. The most commonly recorded contributing factor, per TxDOT CRIS, has been "Failed To Control Speed," cited in 371 of those crashes. The hit-and-run rate at this corridor stands at 12.3%, with 211 of 1,721 vehicles involved fleeing the scene.

For Harris County overall, Tuesday's incident was one of thousands. The county logged 17,791 traffic incidents in the past 30 days, including 25 fatalities. But the concentration of crashes at Exit 43B — 47 in 30 days — underscores why this particular stretch demands attention from anyone navigating southbound I-45 in the afternoon hours. The data shows a pattern. What gets done about it is another question.