The Houston Avenue Bridge over I-10, a 14-foot-3-inch 1965 span, had been struck 72 times by 23 October 2025, with TxDOT costs at $401,379.79, and an oversized spool wedged into it again on 14 August 2026 — with demolition not due until the 2027 White Oak Bayou rebuild.

An oversized cable spool on an 18-wheeler lodged under the Houston Avenue Bridge over eastbound I-10 in Houston on 14 August 2026. The span has a 14-foot-3-inch clearance and was built in 1965. A 23 October 2025 Click2Houston report said TxDOT had logged 72 strikes by that point, while repair and inspection costs then totaled $401,379.79. Those were October year-to-date figures, not final 2025 totals: ABC13 documented a 73rd strike on 8 December 2025.

The 14 August 2026 strike again put the low span in the path of an oversized load. The Houston Chronicle, citing Houston TranStar, put the crash at about 11:40 a.m. ABC13 reported that the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said an 18-wheeler hit the bridge because of its high load, while Houston TranStar reported two eastbound right lanes closed. TxDOT crews responded, and TranStar said all eastbound mainlanes were open again by 3 p.m.

The spool was visibly caught beneath the span. FOX 26 reported that TxDOT Houston posted photographs around noon showing the truck and large spool under the bridge. The outlet said the scene had cleared at about 3 p.m.

An oversized cable spool closed eastbound I-10 under Houston’s 14-foot-3-inch span

The geometry leaves little room for an overheight load. Texas Transportation Code §621.207 states that a vehicle and its load may not be higher than 14 feet. Separately, the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles says vehicles or loads that exceed the state’s legal size and weight limits must have an oversize/overweight permit and an authorized route when applicable. The Houston Avenue Bridge’s posted clearance is 14 feet 3 inches.

TxDOT has tried to intercept high loads before they reach the span. Its October 2025 figures, reported by Click2Houston, said three oversized-load detection systems had been installed on the approaches to flash warnings when a high load was detected. TxDOT spokesperson Kristina Hadley told the Houston Chronicle that trucks involved in strikes often exceeded permitted heights, lacked required permits or strayed from permitted routes. That describes the broader pattern and does not establish the permit status of the 14 August 2026 truck.

By October 2025, TxDOT had logged 72 Houston Avenue Bridge strikes at $401,379.79

The 72-strike figure was an October 2025 snapshot. Click2Houston reported on 23 October that TxDOT had recorded 72 strikes and calculated $72,447.09 in in-house labor plus $328,932.70 in contracted inspections, for a total of $401,379.79. Eight of those incidents had resulted in Houston Police Department investigations. The later 8 December strike was reported by ABC13 as the 73rd of 2025, confirming that the October figure was not the final calendar-year tally.

TxDOT told Click2Houston that each strike sends inspectors to the bridge immediately and can shut I-10 for at least two hours while crews assess the structure. The October report listed strikes on 5 October, 8 September and 6 May, described the 1965 bridge as structurally sound, and said TxDOT engineers had rated its clearance 2 out of 9, or “intolerable.” It also listed average daily traffic on the bridge at 18,750 vehicles.

Demolition waits on the 2027 Houston Avenue phase of the White Oak Bayou project

The permanent fix is already part of TxDOT’s broader I-10 White Oak Bayou work. In its June 2026 project update, TxDOT described a roughly $400 million project that will elevate the existing I-10 mainlanes between Heights Boulevard and I-45 and replace the Houston Avenue Bridge beneath the elevated freeway, eliminating the existing strike configuration. An ABC13 report from February 2026 said demolition of the existing bridge was expected in early 2027 and that construction in the area would continue through the end of 2028 or early 2029.

Flood resilience is the project’s other central purpose. TxDOT’s project overview says I-10 at White Oak Bayou has been inundated 10 times since March 1992 and that the mainlanes in this area were last reconstructed between 1995 and 2000. The agency says the project does not add vehicle capacity. It also includes a two-mile, 10-foot-wide shared-use path connected to the existing trail system and upgraded pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure on the reconstructed Houston Avenue Bridge. Until the Houston Avenue portion of the rebuild reaches the existing span, the 14-foot-3-inch bridge remains the low-clearance constraint over eastbound I-10.