A major crash shut down IH-10 westbound at Washington Ave and Westcott St at 3:38 AM on Wednesday, July 22, closing multiple lanes and backing traffic for miles in the pre-dawn darkness.
Authorities responded quickly, but the incident struck a location that's become a chronic flash point for collisions. According to LocalTrafficAccidents.com data, this half-mile stretch has recorded 79 crashes in the past 30 days—47 of them major incidents like the one Wednesday morning. Over the past three months, the corridor has seen 166 crashes, 101 classified as major.
The sheer volume of incidents at this location tells you something about what drivers face here: crashes happen at varied times rather than clustering in one specific hour, though the data shows 5-6 PM is the single busiest window with 14 crashes recorded during that hour in the recent period. Wednesday's early-morning wreck is a reminder that this corridor stays active around the clock.
Historical crash records from the Texas Department of Transportation reveal an even deeper pattern. Since January 2020, TxDOT CRIS data documents 1,134 crashes within about a quarter-mile of this exact location—three of them fatal. Contributing factors as recorded by investigating officers, per TxDOT CRIS, show "Failed To Control Speed" as the leading factor, cited in 455 crashes at the corridor.
Weather conditions at the time of Wednesday's incident were scattered clouds and 82°F, so atmospheric factors didn't contribute to the collision itself.
If you're heading westbound on I-10 in the Katy area this morning, expect significant delays. Alternate routes include the I-610 loop for longer detours, the Westpark Tollway to the west, or Washington Ave and Memorial Dr for inner-loop segments.
Harris County as a whole recorded 17,734 incidents in the past 30 days, 39 of them fatal. The Washington Ave corridor's crash rate places it well above typical freeway segment incident density, making it one of the most active locations in the region's real-time incident data.
IH-10 Katy Westbound at Washington Ave/Westcott St
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.