MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas — The I-45 North Freeway is back open in both directions at State Highway 242 in Montgomery County following a series of events that led to a deadly multi-vehicle crash late Tuesday night, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
According to Houston Transtar, the freeway reopened at 4:35 a.m. Wednesday after all of the main lanes were closed since 11:18 p.m. Tuesday. The series of crashes covered half a mile.
KHOU 11 traffic expert Jennifer Reyna recommends drivers use Gosling to Grogans Mill or Six Pines to avoid delays.
According to DPS State Troopers, this all started when a motorcycle heading north sped past a trooper on I-45 who was writing a ticket. The motorcyclist tried to exit the freeway onto the feeder road and was hit by a Lexus pulling out of a parking lot of the Metro Park Center. The rider was thrown off the bike into a ditch and killed.
The motorcycle kept going without the rider and crossed back up onto the freeway hitting several cars, leading to a multi-car pileup, DPS said. As many as 11 vehicles were involved.
Parts of the motorcycle were dragged for several hundred yards leading to debris being scattered all over the freeway.
During the pileup, one of the drivers involved got out of their car and was hit by another vehicle. DPS said that driver was killed.
DPS said two others were injured in the pileup, but their conditions have not been released.