A crash at IH-45 northbound southbound at IH-10 Katy brought traffic to a standstill early Thursday morning. The wreck happened at 6:07 AM, jamming the southbound side of the freeway during the start of the commute.
If you're heading that direction this morning, you're looking at major delays. This is the wrong time for a closure here — the merge onto I-10 is already a pinch point, and a stalled lane upstream turns the whole corridor into a parking lot fast. Crews are working the scene, but backups stretched well into the pre-rush-hour window.
Here's the bigger picture: this crash is the latest at an intersection that's been a consistent flash point. According to LTA data, IH-45 northbound southbound at IH-10 Katy has logged 39 crashes in the past 30 days alone — 31 of them major incidents like this one. Over the past 90 days, the corridor has recorded 134 total crashes, with 109 classified as major. Since January 2020, per TxDOT CRIS public crash records, the area has seen 1,336 crashes, including 2 fatalities.
Contributing factors as recorded by investigating officers, per TxDOT CRIS, show "Failed To Control Speed" as the leading factor, cited in 558 crashes at this location. That detail matters when you're merging at highway speed in heavy morning traffic.
The timing of this wreck is notable because while the corridor sees crashes across many hours, the single busiest hour here is 4 to 5 PM, according to LTA data. This morning incident hits before that peak window, but the damage to commute flow is immediate.
If you need an alternate route, consider Hardy Toll Road, SH-249 (northwest), or local routes via Airline Drive to get around the closure. Weather was clear at incident time — overcast, 80 degrees — so conditions themselves weren't a factor.
Stay tuned to real-time traffic updates for a clearance estimate. This intersection clears faster than some, but with 39 major incidents in one month alone, crews know the drill here. Get off I-45 southbound at I-10 if you can and use one of the alternates listed above.
**Update (7:45 AM CT):** The major crash at IH-45 North Southbound at IH-10 Katy, first reported at 6:07 AM, has cleared after approximately 1 hour and 38 minutes. 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.