Interstate 35 stretches over 500 miles through the heart of Texas, carrying a relentless flow of commercial freight between the Mexican border and the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. In Central Texas — from Waco through Temple, Killeen, Georgetown, and Austin — the corridor has become one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the country for truck-involved crashes. Data from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and federal safety agencies confirms that serious and fatal collisions involving 18-wheelers on I-35 have remained stubbornly high in recent years, even as state and national traffic fatalities have shown modest overall declines.

In 2024, TxDOT recorded 4,150 traffic fatalities statewide — a 3.29 percent decrease from 2023 — yet truck-involved crashes along I-35 in Central Texas continued at an alarming pace. Two devastating incidents in early 2025 alone killed six people on this corridor within a span of just two months. Texas led the entire nation with 650 fatal large truck crashes in 2023, more than 50 percent higher than any other state, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).

This article examines the most recent I-35 truck accident data across Central Texas, details two catastrophic incidents that have drawn national attention and triggered a federal investigation, explores the systemic factors driving this crisis, and outlines the legal rights available to victims and their families.

Recent Fatal I-35 Truck Crashes in Central Texas

A Second Fatal Crash Just Two Months Earlier

The March 2025 pileup was not an isolated event. On January 15, 2025, a fiery multi-vehicle crash on I-35 near Hewitt in McLennan County killed Jennifer James, 39, of Lorena and sent six others to Baylor Scott & White Medical Center in Waco. According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (KWTX), a Freightliner Cascadia 126 hauling a utility trailer failed to control its speed as traffic slowed for a road crew and rear-ended James’s Jeep Wrangler. Three semi-trucks and six passenger vehicles were involved in the collision, and all northbound I-35 lanes were shut down until approximately 5:00 p.m.

Together, these two crashes illustrate the compounding risks on I-35 in Central Texas: heavy commercial truck traffic mixing with passenger vehicles in construction zones, during nighttime hours, and in areas where lane configurations change abruptly. The pattern has prompted federal safety officials, state legislators, and advocacy groups to demand immediate reforms in how the corridor is managed and how commercial drivers are licensed and monitored.

Why I-35 in Central Texas Is So Dangerous for Truck Crashes

Several converging factors make the I-35 corridor through Central Texas uniquely hazardous. The highway serves as a primary north-south freight artery connecting Laredo — the busiest inland port in the Western Hemisphere — with major distribution hubs in San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas–Fort Worth. According to TxDOT, I-35 carries some of the highest commercial vehicle volumes in the state, with tens of thousands of trucks transiting daily through urban stretches that were never designed for current traffic loads. Population growth across the Austin metro area, which has been among the fastest in the nation over the past decade, has intensified congestion and conflict between commercial and passenger traffic.

The I-35 Capital Express project, the largest highway expansion in Austin’s history, is broken into three segments — North, Central, and South — and is expected to continue through 2033. While the project aims to improve long-term safety and capacity, the years-long construction has introduced temporary lane shifts, narrowed travel lanes, reduced speed zones, and frequent overnight lane closures that create exactly the kind of traffic queues involved in the March 2025 pileup. TxDOT has deployed queue warning systems on some segments, but the sheer scale and duration of the project presents sustained risk.

Systemic Failures in Commercial Driver Licensing

Beyond the physical dangers of the roadway itself, federal investigators have uncovered systemic weaknesses in how commercial truck drivers are licensed and supervised. The Austin I-35 pileup was directly cited by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy when FMCSA issued an emergency interim final rule in September 2025 restricting non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses. FMCSA’s 2025 annual program reviews found that states including California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington had significant error rates in issuing non-domiciled CDLs — with California alone showing a 25 percent improper issuance rate.

Nationally, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 5,472 people were killed in crashes involving large trucks in 2023, accounting for 13.4 percent of all U.S. traffic fatalities despite trucks comprising only about 5 percent of vehicles on the road. One particularly alarming trend: the number of alcohol-impaired large-truck drivers involved in fatal crashes increased 19 percent between 2022 and 2023, rising from 157 to 187 — even as impaired-driving fatalities declined among all other vehicle types. The Texas Department of Public Safety has responded with targeted enforcement operations along I-35, including the SafeDRIVE initiative, which conducts concentrated commercial vehicle enforcement blitzes on major interstate corridors.

Legal Rights for I-35 Truck Accident Victims in Texas

Texas law provides several pathways for people injured — or families of those killed — in truck accidents on I-35 and other highways. While workers’ compensation may cover some injuries for truck drivers themselves, most victims of commercial vehicle crashes are occupants of passenger cars, pedestrians, or other motorists who may pursue claims directly against the at-fault driver, the trucking company, and potentially other responsible parties.

Federal trucking regulations imposed by FMCSA set strict requirements for commercial drivers and their employers, including hours-of-service limits, CDL qualifications, drug and alcohol testing, and vehicle maintenance standards. When a crash investigation reveals violations of these rules — as the Austin NTSB probe has already uncovered — it can significantly strengthen a victim’s legal claim by establishing that the driver or carrier acted negligently or in disregard of safety mandates.

In multi-vehicle crashes like the March 2025 I-35 pileup, liability may extend beyond the truck driver to include the motor carrier, vehicle or parts manufacturers (in cases of equipment failure), construction contractors responsible for work zone design, and government entities responsible for highway safety. Victims of the Austin crash have already filed lawsuits naming the trucking company, the driver, and Amazon (whose cargo the truck was hauling) as defendants.

Acting quickly is critical. Evidence from truck crashes — including electronic logging device (ELD) data, dashcam footage, driver qualification files, and vehicle inspection records — can be lost or destroyed if not preserved promptly through legal holds. Texas’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims is generally two years from the date of the accident, but beginning the investigation immediately gives attorneys the best chance of building a comprehensive case.