A major crash shut the southbound lanes of IH-610 West Loop at Woodway Drive around 3:52 AM on Saturday, September 26, 2026, trapping traffic and forcing drivers to find alternate routes as crews worked to clear the wreckage.
The incident closed the roadway completely during the overnight hours when the loop typically sees lighter volume. Even so, the timing caught early-morning travelers and delivery drivers heading south through the western side of the loop.
This is the 11th major crash at this location in the past 30 days, according to LocalTrafficAccidents.com data. Over the past 90 days, the same stretch has recorded 20 major incidents, with crashes being the predominant incident type here.
If you were headed south on the loop through this area, surface streets offered relief. Westheimer, Richmond, or Bellaire provided parallel routing to the west, while drivers heading around the north side of the loop could use Irvington or Fulton. Those alternate routes add time to a trip, but they bypass the closure entirely.
Crew clear times weren't immediately available, but incidents of this severity typically take several hours to fully reopen a major freeway corridor. Drivers should assume delays extended through the early morning and check real-time conditions before heading toward that section of the loop.
Harris County saw 14,147 incidents over the past 30 days, including 9 fatals. This crash remains under investigation.
IH-610 West Loop Southbound at Woodway Dr
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.