HOUSTON – A Houston woman says she feared for her life after part of an excavator fell onto her car when a truck hauling the machinery struck the Houston Avenue bridge along Interstate 10.
What they’re saying:
“It was terrifying,” said driver Robyn Hackett, who was headed eastbound near downtown on Saturday evening when the impact sent debris crashing onto her windshield. “You think, this is it. This is how I’m gonna go. And that’s a really scary feeling for anybody.”
Hackett said she was injured in the crash, and her car sustained heavy damage. Transtar cameras show the accident delayed traffic in that area for an extended period of time.
Photo of Robyn Hackett’s vehicle after it was damaged in an accident involving a semi-truck and excavator Sept. 6.
Monday evening while gathering information for this story, Transtar cameras captured another accident involving another truck at the same location.
“There was a shatter of hydraulic fluid. Glass flying into my vehicle. Steel coming at you,” she recalled. “At that velocity and force of debris, you can kill somebody instantly.”
Photo of the damaged excavator in the Sept. 6 accident on I-10 eastbound under the Houston Avenue bridge.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) confirmed the Houston Avenue bridge has a history of strikes from oversized trucks. Monitoring systems have detected 68 bridge hits to date in 2025, but they say only seven of those hits reported were investigated by police so far. In 2024, there were nearly 46 strikes in that same time frame.
According to TxDOT, many oversized loads travel without the required permits or ignore approved routes in favor of shortcuts. The agency says to alleviate this, the area is equipped with three oversized load detection systems, both Eastbound and Westbound, and advanced warning signage. When an oversized load is detected, the system activates flashing warning signs to alert the drivers of the need to exit.
Hackett believes more needs to be done.
“How many lives are we going to have to put at risk before we have some kind of intervention that is more than what we have now?” she said. “I don’t think it’s enough to say that what they’re doing at this existing time is enough. We need some state leaders to help with this.”
The Houston Avenue bridge is included in the White Oak Bayou I-10 Elevation Project, scheduled to begin in early 2027. Police are continuing to investigate Saturday’s accident.
The Source: FOX 26’s Sherman Desselle spoke with Robyn Hackett and a TxDOT spokesperson about the incidents.
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