18-wheeler strikes Houston Avenue bridge, closes Katy Freeway lanes

An 18-wheeler struck the Houston Avenue bridge Friday evening and forced several eastbound lane closures on the Katy Freeway, leaving only two lanes open as traffic slowed through the I-10 corridor. The crash did not report injuries, but it quickly turned the stretch near downtown Houston into a bottleneck for drivers heading across the city.

The hit was part of a pattern that has made the Houston Avenue bridge one of the most troublesome spots on the freeway system. KHOU reported the bridge was struck for the 73rd time in December 2025, and ABC13 later said the count had reached 77 strikes since the start of 2025 by May 2026. KHOU also reported that the strike on Jan. 22 was already the second bridge hit of the year at that location.

TxDOT has said many of the crashes involve semi-trucks and oversized loads that do not have the required permits or take approved routes and try to save time by cutting through the area anyway. The agency has installed three heavy-load detection systems there that trigger flashing warning signs, but the repeated impacts have continued. On Friday, crews were removing large crates filled with aluminum while the bridge was inspected, underscoring how quickly one truck mistake can disrupt a major commuter route.

The reason the bridge keeps getting hit is also built into its design. Houston Public Media reported that the Houston Avenue bridge stands 14 feet, 3 inches tall, which is 2 inches below TxDOT’s current minimum height requirement and more than 2 feet under the department’s vertical clearance standard for freeway overpasses. That narrow margin leaves little room for oversized vehicles, especially along a corridor carrying heavy freight traffic into and out of central Houston.

The long-term fix is tied to the I-10 White Oak Bayou project. TxDOT says the work will raise the I-10 mainlanes out of the floodplain and reconstruct the Houston Avenue bridge so it sits below the freeway, ending future bridge-strike risk at that location. Houston Public Media reported TxDOT planned to demolish the bridge in early 2027 and rebuild it underneath I-10 as part of a roughly $400 million to $407 million project expected to continue into 2028.

The White Oak Bayou stretch has its own history of trouble. Houston Public Media reported the area has been inundated by floodwaters 10 times since March 1992, including during Tropical Storm Allison, Hurricane Harvey and Tropical Storm Imelda. For Harris County travelers, Friday’s crash was another reminder that the Houston Avenue bridge remains a repeat failure point on one of the region’s most important freeways until the reconstruction is finished.