I-35 site of more fatal crashes than any other TX corridor
Published 7:30 pm Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Attorney Brian White, a Houston-based injury law firm, used NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System for 2024 to rank Texas’s major roads by death toll. Interstate 35, which runs from Laredo through Austin, San Antonio and Dallas Fort Worth to the Red River, recorded 167 deaths from 142 fatal crashes, more than any other corridor in the state.
Not every deadly road looks the same. On Interstate 20, nearly half of all fatal crashes happened after dark on an unlit stretch of road, the highest share of any top ten corridor. On Interstate 45, which links Houston and Dallas, more than four in ten fatal crashes involved a pedestrian or cyclist. The same road can pose very different risks, depending on the stretch, the lighting, and the time of day.
Key Findings
I-35 recorded 167 road deaths in 2024, more than any other Texas corridor.
I-10 followed with 138 deaths, then I-45 with 103.
Nearly half of I-20’s fatal crashes happened after dark on an unlit road.
Texas’s ten deadliest roads
1
I-35
Laredo to the Red River
167
2
I-10
El Paso to the Louisiana line
138
3
I-45
Houston to Dallas
103
4
I-20
West Texas to the Louisiana line
90
5
I-30
Fort Worth to Texarkana
56
6
I-69
Houston to the Rio Grande Valley
54
7
US-90
San Antonio to Houston
54
8
US-59
East Texas to Houston
54
9
US-287
Texas Panhandle to Fort Worth
42
10
US-281
Rio Grande Valley to the Hill Country
41
I-35’s death toll is more than double I-45’s. The top three interstates, I-35, I-10 and I-45, together account for 408 deaths, nearly ten percent of every road death recorded in Texas last year.
Why This Matters Now
These interstates carry freight, commuters and tourists across the entire state, and they get more crowded every year.
The most dangerous roads in Texas are also some of its busiest, and that mix is only set to grow as the state’s population climbs.
Methodology
Attorney Brian White analyzed NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) for 2024 and grouped crashes by route, merging directional and frontage road variants under the base route number. Every fatal crash reported statewide was aggregated by corridor to rank total deaths.
Data Sources
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System (nhtsa.gov)