A crash at I-45 North southbound near SH 249 and Mount Houston Road has shut lanes and backed up traffic this morning. The incident happened at 9:54 AM on Tuesday, September 22, 2026.
Responding officers are on scene. Lane closure details and injury status are being assessed. Crews expect to have the roadway clear within the next couple of hours, but backups are building in the northbound approach.
If you're heading south toward the Mount Houston area, Hardy Toll Road, SH 249 northwest, or local routes via Airline Drive offer better flow right now. This stretch of I-45 has seen significant incident activity lately — according to LocalTrafficAccidents.com data, 20 crashes occurred here in the past 30 days, with 14 of them major incidents. Over the past 90 days, the count climbs to 55 total crashes, 42 of them major.
The data shows most crashes at this location fall outside the typical weekday morning and evening rush peaks. The single busiest hour on record is 1–2 PM, when five crashes have been documented. Sundays see the highest incident day overall, with 13 crashes logged in the 90-day window.
According to TxDOT CRIS public crash records, this corridor has recorded 605 crashes since January 2020 — eight of them fatal. Contributing factors as recorded by investigating officers show "Failed To Control Speed" as the leading factor, cited in 252 crashes. Hit-and-run incidents account for 11.8 percent of all crashes here.
Weather conditions this morning are clear, with temperatures at 89 degrees. Authorities continue working to clear the scene. Check back for updates as the situation develops.
Sources: TxDOT Crash Records Information System and Local Traffic Accidents database. Counts through September 22, 2026.
IH-45 North Southbound at SH 249/ Mount Houston Rd
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.