SH 288 at US 59 exit ramp sees major crash overnight

A major motor vehicle incident shut down the SH 288 northbound exit ramp to southbound US 59 around 12:05 AM on Sunday, September 20. Responding officers worked to clear the debris and reopen the roadway.

This stretch of SH 288 at the US 59 interchange has become a recurring trouble spot. According to LocalTrafficAccidents.com data, the corridor logged 19 incidents over the past 30 days, with 2 classified as major. Over the past 90 days, the count climbs to 118 total incidents, 70 of them major. That pattern extends back further — in the past 12 months, TxDOT CRIS public crash records document 407 total crashes at this location, with 244 classified as major.

The timing of this incident fits a broader pattern at the interchange. LTA data shows crashes here most often cluster outside typical weekday commute hours; the single busiest hour is 11 PM to midnight, when 9 crashes occurred over the 90-day period. Sundays are the highest-incident day at this location, with 19 crashes recorded in the past quarter.

Skies were clear and temperature hovered near 79°F at the time of the incident, ruling out adverse weather as a contributing factor.

Historical data from TxDOT CRIS, which tracks crashes back to January 2020 within about a quarter-mile of this interchange, documents 1,230 crashes in that span. Contributing factors as recorded by the investigating officer show "Failed To Control Speed" as the leading cited factor, appearing in 405 crashes. Additionally, hit-and-run incidents account for 13.7% of all crashes at the corridor, with 355 of 2,596 units involved fleeing the scene.

If you're heading toward the SH 288 and US 59 interchange during late-night or early-morning hours, remain alert. The roadway was reopened following standard incident-response procedures, but the corridor's history of overnight incidents underscores the importance of reduced speed and heightened attention during low-visibility driving windows.