US-59/I-69 accidents in Houston: crash data by year (2018–2024)

The short answer

In official City of Houston crash data, US-59/I-69 had 650 crashes from 2018 to 2023 in which someone was killed or seriously injured. 106 of them were fatal, about 16%, close to the 17% across all Houston streets. In 2021 to 2023 the freeway had the second-highest count of these crashes of any street in the City data, after I-45. Federal FARS data counts fatal crashes on US-59/I-69 in Harris County rising from 9 in 2019 to 35 in 2024.

This page goes further than our guide to Houston's highest-injury roads: it gives the freeway's counts of people killed and seriously injured by year, the share of serious crashes that were fatal, the county-wide picture year by year, what we checked about the rise, and what the records say about where on the freeway crashes happened. It is general information about public data, not legal advice, and it says nothing about any particular crash.

Key facts (data as of 2026-10-30)

• Data sources. The City of Houston's Vision Zero layer of traffic deaths and serious injuries, January 2018 to May 2024 (from TxDOT's crash records system, CRIS), and NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for Harris County, 2019 to 2024. See Vision Zero Houston and NHTSA FARS.
• Checked. We downloaded the City layer and the FARS files again on 2026-10-30 and rebuilt the counts. The City layer was last edited on 2024-08-21, and NHTSA had not yet posted its 2025 FARS file.
• The road. TxDOT's designation file records I-69 through the city of Houston as running together with US-59 (TxDOT, IH 69), which is why crash records use both numbers. Crash records also use the freeway's two local names, the Southwest Freeway and the Eastex Freeway.
• 2018 to 2023, City data. 650 KSI crashes on US-59/I-69 (crashes in which someone was killed or suspected seriously injured), 106 of them fatal; 111 people killed and 610 seriously injured. That is about 7% of the 9,528 KSI crashes on all streets in the dataset, and about 7% of its 1,621 fatal crashes.
• Fatal share. About 16% of the freeway's KSI crashes were fatal, against about 17% on all streets in the same data.
• 2019 to 2024, FARS. 145 fatal crashes on US-59/I-69 in Harris County, in which 155 people died; 121 of those crashes (about 83%) were recorded inside the City of Houston.
• Download the numbers. houston-corridor-crashes-2018-2024.csv has every count on this page by road, source and year, and houston-intersections-serious-crashes-2021-2023.csv has the intersection rows.
• Data credit. NHTSA FARS data is a work of the U.S. government and is not under copyright (17 U.S.C. §105). The City of Houston layer is public data published by the City of Houston Planning & Development Department from TxDOT CRIS records; the City does not state a license for it. Please credit "City of Houston Vision Zero (TxDOT CRIS)" and "NHTSA FARS".
• How to cite. InjuryClaimGuide, "US-59/I-69 accidents in Houston: crash data by year (2018–2024)", data as of 2026-10-30, from City of Houston Vision Zero (TxDOT CRIS) and NHTSA FARS data, https://getinjuryclaimguide.com/learning/houston-us-59-i-69-crash-data
• Reuse. Our tables and CSV files are licensed CC BY 4.0, which covers only InjuryClaimGuide's own work in compiling them. The counts come from public records, and the source data keep their own terms (see "Data credit"). These figures are InjuryClaimGuide's analysis; the City of Houston, TxDOT and NHTSA did not produce or review them.

How many serious crashes happened on US-59/I-69 each year?

City of Houston data, crashes in and near the city. A crash is counted once, however many people were hurt; a crash is fatal if anyone died.

From 2018 to 2023, US-59/I-69 had between 71 and 139 KSI crashes a year, with the highest count in 2023. The count was 71 in 2018 and 76 in 2019, and between 125 and 139 in each year from 2021 to 2023. The number of people killed in a single year ranged from 9 to 32.

What share of US-59/I-69's serious crashes were fatal?

Of the freeway's 650 KSI crashes from 2018 to 2023, 106 were fatal: about 16%. On all streets in the City data for the same years, 1,621 of 9,528 KSI crashes were fatal: about 17%. By year, the freeway's share ranged from 9% (2019) to 21% (2021), moving up and down rather than in one direction.

What this can say: over the six full years, the share of the freeway's serious crashes that ended in a death was close to the share across Houston streets as a whole. What it can't say: why it moved from year to year. The data has no traffic volumes, and this study does not use the officers' contributing-factor or construction-zone fields. A share computed from a few dozen fatal crashes a year can move several points from one year to the next.

How many fatal crashes did FARS count on US-59/I-69 county-wide?

NHTSA's FARS covers every fatal crash in Harris County, inside and outside the City of Houston, and counts a death if it happened within 30 days of the crash.

From 2019 to 2024, FARS counts 145 fatal crashes on US-59/I-69 in Harris County, about 5% of the 2,979 fatal crashes on all roads in the county. 121 of those crashes (about 83%) were recorded inside the City of Houston, more than the share for all Harris County roads (1,723 of 2,979, about 58%).

Is the rise from 9 to 35 fatal crashes real? We checked. FARS records this road as I-69, usually together with US-59, in every year from 2019 to 2024, and our count includes every version of the name. A location check found no 2019 fatal crash on the freeway that the name rules missed. The City of Houston's dataset, compiled separately from state crash records, shows a similar rise (7 fatal crashes in 2019, 27 in 2023). So the increase is in the data, not an artifact of how the road was named. What the data can't say: why it rose. Counts this small swing from year to year, and the data does not record traffic volumes or construction.

Where on US-59/I-69 do the serious crashes happen?

The data can only partly answer this.

At intersections. Our intersection study groups City KSI crashes from 2021 to 2023 that happened within about 250 feet (76 metres) of the same spot. Of the 17 Houston locations with at least 5 KSI crashes, US-59/I-69 is named in 6, as many as Beltway 8 and more than any other road:

Five of them lie on the Southwest Freeway, southwest of downtown: Westpark Tollway, Hillcroft Ave, Bissonnet St, the Beltway 8 interchange and W Bellfort. The sixth, at Orlando St, is north of downtown. These locations can include crashes on the frontage roads and at the cross streets, so their crashes are not all part of the US-59/I-69 counts above.

In how the road was recorded. FARS records the road name the way the reporting officer wrote it. Of the 145 fatal crashes on US-59/I-69 in Harris County from 2019 to 2024:

• 32 were recorded with "Southwest Freeway" in the road name and 45 with "Eastex Freeway"; the other 68 were recorded only as US-59/I-69 (or with another name), so they cannot be placed on either side of downtown;
• 11 were recorded on a ramp; and
• 21 were recorded on a frontage or service road.

The City data records 456 of its 697 US-59/I-69 KSI crashes from January 2018 to May 2024 simply as "IH0069", without a side, lane or ramp. Of the rest:

• 110 were recorded as the Southwest Freeway;
• 28 were recorded as the Eastex Freeway, and 50 more under the highway name the City data uses for the Eastex Freeway north of Beltway 8;
• 52 were recorded under a US-59 name, including the US-59 HOV lane; and
• 1 was recorded as "I 69".

How were these numbers built, and what can't they tell you?

The method is the same as in our guide to Houston's highest-injury roads, which explains it in full:

• Every name the freeway goes by. US-59, I-69, IH0069, the Southwest Freeway and the Eastex Freeway are all counted, including crashes on frontage roads, which crash records file under the freeway's name.
• Main street only. A crash at a cross street counts toward US-59/I-69 only if the report lists the freeway as the main street, so the counts are conservative.
• Two sources, two scopes. The City data covers crashes in and near Houston, not all of US-59/I-69 in Harris County. FARS covers the whole county but only fatal crashes.
• Counts, not rates. The numbers are not adjusted for traffic volume or road length, so they do not show the risk of any single trip.
• Not every crash. Only crashes with a death or suspected serious injury are in the public City layer. The City data ends in May 2024, and NHTSA can revise its most recent FARS file.
• No causes or fault. The counts do not say why any crash happened or who was responsible.

Nothing in the data or on this page identifies any person; it contains counts only.

Where can I get the crash report for a crash on US-59/I-69?

A Texas Peace Officer's Crash Report (form CR-3) is written by the law enforcement agency that investigated the crash. Texas law requires an officer who investigates a crash that caused an injury or a death, or apparent damage to one person's property at or above the amount the statute sets, to make a written report and file it electronically with TxDOT not later than the tenth day after the crash (Tex. Transp. Code §550.062). Which agency that was depends on where the crash happened and who responded.

• Where to buy it. TxDOT sells crash reports through its Crash Report Online Purchase System, known as CRIS (TxDOT, Crash Reports and Records). Some Houston-area agencies also sell their own reports: How to get a crash report in Houston gives each agency's steps and fees, and How to Get a Texas Crash Report (CR-3) covers the statewide process.
• Who may get the full report. Transp. Code §550.065 releases the full report, on written request and payment of the fee, to the people it lists, such as a person involved in the crash and that person's authorized representative. Any person may request a redacted version that leaves out names, addresses, phone numbers and other personal items. Our §550.065 reference entry quotes the statute.
• What the codes mean. How to read a Texas crash report explains the fields and codes on the form.

The counts on this page come from crash reports like these, but they are totals only: nothing here points to a particular crash or a particular report.

What does Texas law require of drivers after a crash on US-59/I-69?

The collisions chapter of the Texas Transportation Code, starting at §550.021, sets a driver's duties after a crash, on a freeway or on any other road. In general terms:

• Stop and check. The driver of a vehicle in a crash that results, or is reasonably likely to result, in injury to or death of a person must immediately stop at the scene or as close to it as possible, determine whether anyone involved needs aid, and remain until the information duties below are met. The stop is to be made without obstructing traffic more than is necessary (§550.021).
• Give information and aid. After a crash that injures or kills someone or damages a vehicle that is driven or attended by a person, the driver must give their name and address, the vehicle's registration number and the name of their liability insurer, show a driver's license if asked and if it is available, and give reasonable assistance to anyone injured (§550.023).
• Report it. After a crash that injures or kills someone, or damages a vehicle so that it cannot be normally and safely driven, the driver must immediately notify the local police department if the crash happened in a city, or otherwise the sheriff's office or another office the statute names (§550.026(a)).

Our reference entry on a driver's duties after a crash quotes these sections, and the Texas car crash law reference collects the other statutes that come up after a crash. This is general information about what the statute says, not advice about any crash.

Related Houston information

• Houston's highest-injury roads (crash data): US-59/I-69 compared with I-45, I-10, the 610 Loop, Beltway 8 and Westheimer Road.
• Beltway 8 crash data and 610 Loop crash data: the same deep dive for the two loops US-59/I-69 crosses.
• I-45 crash data, I-10 crash data and SH-288 crash data: the other Houston freeway pages.
• Houston car accident information: local crash-report offices, courts and roads.
• Who may receive a Texas crash report (§550.065) and a driver's duties after a crash (Transp. Code §550.021 and after): the statute text, quoted and explained.

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