Austin, Texas: Semi Crash Shuts Down Northbound I-35 Lower Deck Downtown

Downtown Austin started Monday with its main freeway cut in half. An 18-wheeler hit the center concrete median on Interstate 35 just after 3 a.m. and flipped onto its side, and Austin police closed every northbound lane of the lower deck for the morning.

The crash near 15th Street

Austin police say the semi hit the median near 15th Street just after 3 a.m. on Monday, November 2, and rolled onto its side, KXAN reported. No other vehicle was reported in the initial accounts, and police said no one sustained significant injuries in the crash. CBS Austin reported the same closure from the Texas Department of Transportation and Austin police: an 18-wheeler crash on the northbound lower deck near 15th Street.

KVUE reported that all northbound lanes of Interstate 35 near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard were closed early Monday after the crash. KXAN's morning reports put the shutdown between East 7th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the stretch where the lower deck runs below the upper decks through the middle of downtown.

What drivers faced

The lower deck is the working half of I-35 through central Austin, carrying the local exits for downtown while the upper decks carry traffic over the top. Closing it northbound before dawn on a Monday pushed the early commute onto the frontage roads and the downtown grid, on the day before Austin voters go to the polls for the November 3 elections. Police and TxDOT crews worked the scene through the early hours, and the northbound lower deck stayed closed while the overturned truck was dealt with.

Neither Austin police nor TxDOT had announced a cause by the time the local stations reported the closure. The reports did not describe cargo spilling from the trailer or damage beyond the truck itself, and police gave no timeline in the first reports for when the lanes would reopen.

A familiar bottleneck

The double deck section of I-35 is one of the most watched pieces of road in Texas, a short, tight stretch where a single overturned truck can remove half the freeway from service. Monday's crash injured no one seriously, which is the good outcome for a rollover involving a loaded semi at freeway speed. For drivers, though, the arithmetic was simple: one truck on its side near 15th Street, and the northbound half of downtown's freeway was gone for the start of the week.

Drivers heading north through downtown on Monday morning were left to the frontage roads until police cleared the scene. Austin police had not announced any arrests or citations connected with the crash in the first reports.