The scene of a tractor trailer accident on the Highway 225 East exit from IH 610 Thursday, April 2, 2009, in Houston. (Photo by James Nielsen/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspap/Houston Chronicle
Recently, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) ramped up patrols along a stretch of coastal Texas highway that locals call one of the “scariest” highways in the state and a “death trap.” In August, over the course of a week, three people died, and three more were injured in a pair of crashes that occurred on Texas 361, the narrow, two-lane highway that connects Corpus Christi to Port Aransas.
But Texas 361, which the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) calls SH 361, isn’t the only deadly highway in the Lone Star State. According to the highway agency’s own crash data, there was a fatality on a Texas highway every single day of 2025. In fact, at least three people die on Texas highways every day. The last time the state went a full day without a traffic fatality was more than two decades ago on November 7, 2000, according to TxDOT’s End the Streak road safety campaign.
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In the wake of the fatalities along SH 361, MySA wanted to know what you think, so we asked readers on our website and on social media which South Texas highway feels the most dangerous and why.
This map, from TxDOT’s Crash Records Information System, shows the location of every serious and fatal crash that occurred on a Texas highway in 2023.
Courtesy TxDOT
Readers say I-35, Loop 410 are the scariest roads in San Antonio
On Facebook, more than one person responded to MySA’s question, saying Interstate 35 and Texas Loop 410 are among the scariest highways around the San Antonio metro.
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“35 at 3009 right as the construction zone ends there’s a lip that jerks your vehicle towards the wall,” said Facebook user and commercial truck driver, James Gardner, referring to the intersection where I-35 meets Farm-to-Market Road 3009 in Schertz.
Another person, Rene Nitsche, replied that they have to take extra care to “grab the steering wheel” while driving at that intersection.
A vehicle and motorcycle are seen at a crash on Texas 290 in Houston in 2012. Motorcyclists say the intersection of Interstate 35 and Loop 1604 in San Antonio can be scary for riders.
Houston Chronicle/Hearst Newspap/Houston Chronicle via Getty Imag
Bikers fear I-35 and Loop 1604 junction
Meanwhile, not far from Schertz, motorcyclists say the point where I-35 meets Loop 1604 is “terrible.”
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“I-35 and 1604 by IKEA. Over 15 motorcyclists had an accident on that stretch of road in 10 days. Myself included,” replied a Facebook user who goes by Moto Mo.
Another biker, Timothy Daniel, said the safety concerns along I-35 are enough to make him detour around the interstate while traveling from San Antonio to Austin.
“I avoid 35 on my bike as much as I can. … I take the scenic route up and over. It’s much more pleasant, but it does take a while longer.
Some readers say driverless rideshares, like Waymo, make roads more dangerous
For other drivers, it’s driverless robotaxies, like those offered by Waymo, that have them worried.
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“Any road with those death trap Waymos is a dangerous road,” Monica Garza commented on Facebook, while on Instagram, user mbustillo8 said, “Waymo trying to drown us out there.”
Personal injury law firms take note of dangerous Texas highways
But it’s not just weekday commuters who are calling out the Lone Star State’s most crash-prone highways. Dallas-based Angel Reyes & Associates, an injury law firm with locations across the state, has flagged several South Texas highways.
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“We actually dug into this using 2025 TxDOT crash data,” the firm replied to MySA on Instagram. “In South Texas, Padre Island Dr. in Corpus Christi, US 77 in Harlingen, and Culebra Rd./ Zarzamosa Sr., Hunt Ln. and Potranco Rd. in San Antonio all stood out in our study.”
Similarly, a representative from another Dallas-based personal injury law firm, J. Alexander Law, emailed MySA to highlight some of the most dangerous intersections in Texas. At the top of the list with 77 crashes and 39 injuries was the intersection of South General Bruce Drive and Southwest H.K. Dodgen Loop along I-35 in Temple. Corpus Christi’s Padre Island Drive and Staples Street intersection ranked No. 6 on the firm’s list of the 50 most dangerous intersections in Texas, with 46 crashes and nine injuries in 2025.