I-45 southbound crash at Woodridge; 30 incidents in 30 days

A major crash brought southbound I-45 to a crawl at the Woodridge exit ramp Saturday morning. The wreck happened at 8:37 AM on what's shaping up to be another collision-heavy day at this stretch of the freeway.

Responding officers worked to clear the scene and restore traffic flow. The incident underscores a persistent pattern: this half-mile of I-45 has recorded 30 crashes in the past 30 days alone, according to LocalTrafficAccidents.com data.

The numbers here are striking. Over the past 90 days, the corridor near Griggs Road has logged 113 total incidents, with 73 classified as major. In the past 12 months, the location has tallied 199 incidents, 125 of them major, plus 3 fatal crashes. When you zoom out further, state crash records from the Texas Department of Transportation show 913 crashes within about a quarter-mile of this location since January 2020, with 8 fatalities recorded.

Saturday proved particularly active at this spot. LTA data shows that Saturdays are the busiest day of the week here, averaging 14 incidents over the past 90 days. While the peak crash hour at this location runs 4 to 5 PM (averaging 12 crashes), incidents occur at varied times rather than concentrating in a single window—this morning's crash is a reminder that collisions here aren't time-bound to rush hour alone.

Contributing factors as recorded by investigating officers, per TxDOT CRIS, show that "Failed To Control Speed" ranks as the most common cited cause at this corridor, appearing in 285 of the crashes on record. Additionally, hit-and-run incidents account for 12.8% of all crashes here—249 out of 1,948 vehicles involved in collisions fled the scene.

The morning was warm and clear—broken clouds and 87 degrees—so weather was not a complicating factor in this incident. Traffic conditions should normalize as crews finish clearing the wreck, though delays may persist through mid-morning on the southbound side.