A four-vehicle collision brought traffic to a crawl on I-610 South near Westheimer Road at 11:38 AM on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. The major accident tied up the southbound lanes of the Loop during the tail end of the morning commute, creating significant delays for drivers heading toward the Medical Center and Bellaire areas.
The backup extended well beyond the initial crash site, with congestion backing up to the downtown connector and beyond. Drivers looking to avoid the gridlock had several options: westbound travelers could exit at Montrose Boulevard and use surface streets through Montrose or take the feeder road system along Westheimer, while those heading south could detour to US-59 or take Memorial Drive to bypass the affected stretch entirely. The timing couldn't have been worse—just as the mid-morning lull was settling in, this collision reversed any progress commuters had made post-rush hour.
This section of I-610 South has long been a bottleneck, particularly where it intersects with Westheimer, one of the city's busiest east-west corridors. The area serves as a critical junction connecting the Uptown/Galleria area with the Texas Medical Center and the neighborhoods south of the Loop. On an ordinary Tuesday, this stretch handles steady traffic throughout the day, but accidents here have an outsized impact because drivers have limited alternate routes that don't add significant time to their commutes.
The southbound lanes bore the brunt of the incident, with traffic severely impacted in both the main lanes and feeder road. At the time of reporting, it remained unclear whether all lanes had reopened, though crews were actively working the scene. Drivers heading through the area should expect residual delays and watch for debris that may still be present on the roadway.
The 30 days preceding this crash saw 44 crashes at this same location.
The 14 weeks since this incident have brought 291 more crashes here. 114 of the crashes that followed were major. 5 of those that followed this incident was fatal.
The pace of crashes at this location has picked up since.
A handful of the crashes happened within a single week.
The combined count puts this stretch in the top tier for crashes in the area.
Counts run through May 30, 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.