I-35 gets the attention because of the border traffic. I-10 is the east-west freight spine, and it produces a different kind of crash.
I-10 runs through Bexar County as the McDermott Freeway northwest of downtown and the Jose Lopez Freeway to the south, carrying freight east toward Houston and the Gulf, and west through Kerr and Kendall counties toward El Paso.
TxDOT and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute rank the state’s hundred most congested road segments, including a separate ranking by truck delay. Multiple San Antonio-area I-10 segments appear: the I-10/US-90 south stretch approaching the I-37/US-281 interchange ranks 59th in Texas for truck delay; the I-410 north to I-10/US-87 segment and the Loop 1604 north to I-10/US-87 segment both rank in the state’s hundred most congested.
Bexar County recorded 2,581 crashes involving a commercial motor vehicle in 2025, with 16 people killed. Adding the ring counties, greater San Antonio produces roughly 3,600 in a year.
The I-35 corridor is dominated by long-haul freight moving north from the Laredo border crossings. I-10 through San Antonio carries a more mixed load, and the mix is what shapes the cases.
To the east, it is the San Antonio–Houston freight run: petrochemical and port-related traffic, tankers and hazmat loads, and the through-traffic between two of the largest metros in the country. Carriers hauling oil or hazardous materials must carry $1,000,000 in minimum coverage under 49 C.F.R. § 387.9 rather than the $750,000 general-freight floor, and certain explosives and radioactive shipments require $5,000,000.
To the west and northwest, the corridor climbs into Kendall and Kerr counties, with elevation and grade changes, and it feeds the Hill Country routes. Different failure modes: brake performance on descent, speed for conditions, and fatigue on a longer, emptier stretch.
And in the middle sits the downtown interchange complex where I-10 and I-35 run concurrent before splitting, one of the more demanding pieces of urban freeway in Texas and the location of the region’s worst truck-delay segments.
One honest note. TxDOT does not publish a table of truck crashes by named highway. Anyone telling you flatly that a particular San Antonio freeway is the “deadliest” for trucks is inferring it. What the state does publish is county-level crash data and this corridor-level truck-delay ranking, and we would rather cite what exists.
Through-traffic makes the evidence problem acute. A tractor running San Antonio to Houston does not sit in a Bexar County yard waiting to be inspected — it is back under load within a day or two, and the data on it degrades with every mile.
The federal retention rules are the outer limit, and they are shorter than people expect. Records of duty status and the supporting documents behind them: six months under 49 C.F.R. § 395.8(k)(1). ELD backup: the same six months (§ 395.22(i)). Driver qualification file: three years after employment ends (§ 391.51). Maintenance and inspection records: one year, and only six months after the vehicle leaves the carrier’s control (§ 396.3(c)). Accident register: three years (§ 390.15).
Heavy-truck ECM data has no federal retention requirement at all. The federal event data recorder standard, 49 C.F.R. Part 563, reaches only vehicles at or under 8,500 pounds GVWR — which excludes every Class 7 and Class 8 tractor on I-10. Last-stop and sudden-deceleration records are a proprietary feature of the engine manufacturer and can be overwritten by subsequent key cycles or further driving.
Where a hazardous load is involved, there is an additional layer worth pursuing early: shipping papers, placarding, the hazmat endorsement on the driver’s license, and any emergency response information carried in the cab.
A through-load unit is back on the road within days. Inspection and ECM download have to be demanded immediately, not scheduled for convenience.
Motor carrier, shipper, broker, lessor and maintenance contractor. On a hazmat load, the shipper’s papers and the carrier’s endorsements matter as much as the driver’s conduct.
Fuel receipts, tolls, scale tickets and delivery records are how an incomplete or falsified record of duty status gets exposed.
Scene documentation, TxDOT and municipal camera footage, and nearby commercial cameras — most of which overwrite within weeks.
TxDOT does not publish truck crashes by named highway, so a ranking of that kind would be an estimate rather than a fact. What the state does publish is the truck-delay ranking of congested segments, where two I-35 segments in and near downtown rank 25th and 37th worst in Texas and an I-10/US-90 segment ranks 59th. Congestion and freight volume are measurable; a per-highway fatality ranking is not published.
Yes, in two ways. Carriers hauling oil or hazardous materials must carry at least $1,000,000 in coverage under 49 C.F.R. § 387.9 rather than the $750,000 general-freight minimum, and certain explosives, poison gas and radioactive shipments require $5,000,000. Hazmat loads also generate an additional documentary record — shipping papers, placarding requirements, the driver’s hazmat endorsement, and emergency response information — that is worth obtaining early.
Yes. The corridor runs through several counties and we practice across South and Central Texas. Venue is generally where the crash occurred or where a defendant resides, and we handle the filing and the travel.
Within days if you can. Federal law protects a driver’s records of duty status for six months and no longer, a through-traffic tractor returns to service almost immediately, and heavy-truck ECM data carries no federal retention requirement at all. The preservation demand is what stops routine loss of evidence.
The tractor will be back under load within days and the driver’s logs are protected for six months. Call (210) 832-9090.