PM Drive: Major Crashes on Westheimer and Chimney Rock, a Stall on Beltway 8-North, and the Katy HOV Closure Still Total
Houston TranStar's 2:09 p.m. board shows six major street accidents in the last hour - led by Westheimer at the West Sam Houston Parkway at 2:07 p.m. - plus a heavy-truck stall on the Katy Freeway and the standing construction closures that will shape the evening commute.
The evening commute starts with a busy incident board. Houston TranStar's live file, updated at 2:09 p.m. Wednesday, listed major accidents at Westheimer Road at the West Sam Houston Parkway South (reported 2:07 p.m.), Hare Street at Meadow Street (1:48 p.m.), Chimney Rock Road at Gulfton Street (1:20 p.m.), the West Sam Houston Parkway North at West Little York Road (1:17 p.m.), Ward Street at Foster Street and Pierce Street at Emancipation Avenue (both 1:11 p.m.). Minor accidents were also listed at Elgin at Travis, Holcombe at Cambridge, Kirby at Rice, Weslayan at the Southwest Freeway and Gessner at the Katy Freeway. TranStar reported no high water locations.
On the freeways, a heavy-truck stall on IH-10 Katy westbound after Barker Cypress Road was sitting on the right shoulder, verified at 12:52 p.m., and a stall on Beltway 8-North eastbound at Greens Crossing Boulevard was detected at 2:06 p.m., also on the right shoulder. The one freeway accident on the board - a heavy-truck crash on the North Sam Houston Tollway eastbound at Fairbanks North Houston Road - had cleared at 1:54 p.m.
The standing closures do the rest of the shaping. US-90 Alternate remains totally closed in both directions from Du Pont Street to Cullen Boulevard until further notice, a closure TranStar lists through May 31, 2027. The IH-10 Katy HOV lanes remain totally closed from Franklin Street to Studemont Street through July 1, 2027, with two outside westbound mainlanes closed from IH-45/Hogan to Studemont and alternating lane closures in both directions between Heights Boulevard and IH-45, plus an alternating frontage-road lane from Studemont to IH-45.
Three daytime work zones clear before the worst of the drive: inside-lane maintenance on IH-69 Southwest southbound at Westpark Drive and at Fountain View Drive runs until 3 p.m., the Beltway 8-West northbound frontage road lane closure from Bissonnet to Bellfort also ends at 3 p.m., and the FM-359 inside-lane closure in Richmond runs until 4 p.m. FM-360 in Needville stays closed continuously through November 4. Drivers heading west should expect the Katy corridor to carry the evening's weight, as it has all week.
