A significant traffic accident at the intersection of Greenwillow Drive and I-610 West brought rush-hour congestion to a standstill Thursday evening at 5:15 PM on February 19, 2026. The collision occurred during peak westbound traffic, immediately impacting hundreds of commuters heading out of central Houston during the critical evening drive home.
The timing couldn't be worse for westbound travelers. The I-610 West corridor funnels traffic from downtown and the medical center toward Bellaire, Uptown, and western Harris County neighborhoods. Drivers caught in this backup should consider taking surface streets to bypass the loop entirely. Allen Parkway and Westheimer Road offer viable alternatives for those heading west, while northbound traffic might find relief by exiting onto Kirby Drive or taking surface roads through the Montrose area to connect with alternate routes. The delay will likely ripple onto connecting highways, with potential backup extending to I-10 West interchange points as traffic seeks alternate paths around the incident.
Greenwillow Drive's intersection with I-610 West sits in a challenging geographic pocket just south of Hermann Park and near the Texas Medical Center's western edge. This stretch of the loop handles significant daily volume from both commuters and medical center employees, making it a critical junction during evening rush hours. The area sees consistent heavy traffic between 4:30 and 6:30 PM as workers leave downtown offices and hospital shifts change.
The westbound lanes of I-610 bore the brunt of the incident. While emergency response teams worked to clear the roadway, drivers reported significant delays extending back several miles. Evening commuters should anticipate extended travel times and plan accordingly. Those with flexibility might delay their departure or work from alternate locations until the situation normalizes on the west loop.
Sources: TxDOT Crash Records Information System and Local Traffic Accidents database. Counts through October 1, 2026.
At this location, 4 crashes had been documented in the 30 days before this one.
The location's running count has added 31 crashes since this incident. Major-severity crashes accounted for 19 of those incidents.
A handful of the crashes happened within a single week.
That combined total ranks the location high among county incident sites.
Data current as of September 11, 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.