A major wreck at La Porte Fwy and Broadway St early Saturday morning — 12:17 AM on July 18 — has added to what's becoming a relentless pattern at this Harris County interchange. Responding officers cleared the scene, but the numbers paint a stark picture of what's happening out there.
According to LocalTrafficAccidents.com data, this intersection has seen 32 incidents over the past 30 days alone. Over the past 12 months, the corridor has recorded 168 total crashes, including 72 major incidents and 3 fatalities. The scale is striking: since January 2020, state crash records show 488 crashes within roughly a quarter-mile of this location — 2 of them fatal.
The timing pattern here is worth noting. Most crashes at La Porte Fwy and Broadway fall outside the weekday commute rush. The single busiest hour is 2 to 3 PM, when 7 crashes have been recorded. A Saturday early-morning wreck breaks that trend but fits the broader weekend traffic profile at this location.
What's driving these collisions? Per TxDOT CRIS public crash records, the most common officer-recorded contributing factor at this corridor is "Failed To Control Speed" — cited in 96 crashes since 2020. Speed and loss of control account for the majority of incidents here, a pattern that repeats regardless of time of day or day of the week.
Hit-and-run incidents are also elevated at this location. State records show a 13.7% hit-and-run rate — 133 of 971 units involved in crashes here since 2020 — which is notably higher than many corridors in the region.
Conditions at the time of the 12:17 AM incident were clear: broken clouds and 80°F. Weather wasn't a factor in this particular wreck, but road conditions and driver behavior remain the dominant variables at this intersection.
The incident was cleared and traffic resumed normal flow. If you drive this corridor regularly — whether early morning, afternoon, or weekend — the data suggests the risk is constant. The numbers are what they are. What you do with that information is up to you.
**Update (8:20 AM CT):** The major crash at La Porte Fwy & Broadway St, 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.
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.