A significant crash brought westbound traffic to a crawl on IH-610 North Loop at Fulton on Saturday, February 14, 2026, at 1:33 PM. The incident, reported by TranStar, created major delays during the afternoon hours when the North Loop typically handles steady weekend traffic.
The crash hit the North Loop during a busy Saturday afternoon, when families and shoppers frequent the area. Drivers heading westbound faced substantial backups as crews worked to clear the roadway. Those traveling in that direction should have considered taking surface streets like North Shepherd Drive or Allen Parkway as alternatives. Further west, drivers could have jumped onto the Hockley Freeway (IH-290) to bypass the congested stretch entirely, though that route also sees weekend traffic. The Eastex Freeway (US-59) provides another option for drivers trying to reach points north.
The Fulton area sits in a particularly busy corridor of the North Loop. This section of IH-610 passes near the Uptown/Midtown border and handles significant commuter traffic throughout the week, with weekend volumes remaining consistently high. The North Loop itself is one of Houston's most critical inner-loop routes, serving as a major connector between the east and west sides of the city. Crashes along this stretch typically create ripple effects across multiple connecting freeways.
The westbound direction bore the brunt of the impact from this collision. As of the time of reporting, details on whether the incident had been fully cleared were still being finalized. Drivers in the area faced extended travel times, with secondary impacts expected to spread to nearby feeder roads as traffic sought alternate routes. Anyone planning to travel on the North Loop should have allowed extra time and monitored real-time traffic conditions before heading out.
At this location, 5 crashes had been documented in the 30 days before this one.
79 more crashes have been recorded at this location in the time since. 49 of the subsequent crashes were classified as major.
Crash counts at the location have stepped up since this incident.
A burst of crashes followed within a compressed period.
Together, the incidents make this stretch one of the most active in the county.
Counts reflect data through August 24, 2026.
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.