A crash with injuries shut lanes on I-45 northbound near Woodridge Drive at 12:17 AM Thursday, July 16. Responding officers worked to clear the scene while traffic backed up in the pre-dawn darkness.
The exact nature of injuries wasn't immediately available, but the incident forced lane closures on one of the region's busiest freight corridors. Traffic diverted to surface streets as crews assessed the damage and managed the scene.
This wreck lands at a location that's seen sustained crash activity. According to LTA data, I-45 N at Woodridge has recorded 58 incidents over the past 30 days—28 of them major. Over the past year, the location has logged 300 total incidents, with 150 classified as major and 6 fatal. The corridor shows a pattern that defies typical commute-hour assumptions: most crashes here fall outside the weekday peak times, with the single busiest hour running 2 to 3 PM.
Thursday proved to be the highest-incident day at this location over the past 90 days, with 21 crashes recorded. While this particular wreck occurred well outside the traditional morning or evening commute window, the location's history suggests vulnerability across all hours.
State crash records provide additional context. Per TxDOT CRIS public crash records, the corridor has seen 1,354 crashes since January 2020. Contributing factors as recorded by investigating officers, per TxDOT CRIS, show "Failed To Control Speed" cited in 418 crashes at the location. Hit-and-run incidents account for 12.8% of all crashes here—371 of the 2,890 vehicles involved in collisions over that period.
Conditions at the time were overcast, 79 degrees—clear enough that weather was not a factor in this incident.
Authorities expected to clear the scene within the standard incident response window. Drivers heading northbound should monitor traffic apps for real-time clearance updates and be prepared for residual delays as lanes reopen.
Update (8:20 AM CT): The major crash at I-45 N & Woodridge Dr, first reported at 12:17 AM, has cleared after more than 8 hours. All lanes have reopened and normal traffic flow has resumed in the area.
Sources: TxDOT Crash Records Information System and Local Traffic Accidents database. Counts through September 12, 2026.
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.