What Happened
A crash blocked all eastbound lanes of I-495 in Queens County on Tuesday, August 18, 2026. The incident was classified as moderate in severity. No official press release had been issued as of this report, and the specific exit location, vehicles involved, and cause of the collision have not been confirmed by authorities.
The full lane blockage placed all eastbound traffic at a standstill on one of the busiest highway corridors in the New York metropolitan area. No injuries, fatalities, or charges have been confirmed in available official data.
Location & Road Context
I-495, the Long Island Expressway, runs east from the Queens-Midtown Tunnel through Nassau and Suffolk counties. The Queens segment handles some of the heaviest volume on the corridor, particularly during morning and afternoon peak hours on weekdays.
According to Long Island Traffic’s incident registry, I-495 recorded 107 incidents in the past 30 days and 388 so far in 2026, making it one of the most active crash corridors tracked by this site. This crash is one of at least four moderate or minor incidents logged on I-495 on August 18 alone, including a crash on I-495 Lower Level classified as moderate and three separate minor crashes — here, here, and here — all on the same date. A fatal crash on the corridor was recorded as recently as August 11, 2026.
Queens County has 274 recorded accidents in Long Island Traffic’s local incident database. For a full look at accident history along this corridor, see the I-495 road page.
Broader Impact
With all eastbound lanes blocked, drivers heading from Queens toward Nassau County had no through-lane option on I-495 during the closure. The Queens–Nassau border segment of the LIE has limited parallel alternatives; the closest surface-road option is the Northern Boulevard (NY-25A) corridor to the north or Jamaica Avenue to the south.
Updates
- Aug 18, 2026: Additional reporting merged into this article: “Crash on I-495” (via 511ny)