What Happened
A crash on the eastbound I-495 in Queens County blocked the center lane Wednesday, August 19, 2026. The incident was classified as minor severity. No specific time of day was included in the initial incident record.
The blockage affected one lane — the center lane — of the eastbound Long Island Expressway in Queens. No injuries, vehicle types, or names of those involved were reported in the initial incident data available to Long Island Traffic.
Location & Road Context
The I-495 through Queens is one of the most heavily traveled freight and commuter corridors on the East Coast. The eastbound lanes carry traffic from the Queens–Nassau county line toward the Midtown Tunnel and serve as a primary artery for morning inbound and afternoon outbound commutes.
According to Long Island Traffic’s incident registry, the I-495 corridor logged 110 recorded incidents in the past 30 days and 391 incidents so far in 2026 — this crash is among that count. The most recent prior fatal crash on the corridor occurred August 11, 2026. Drivers can track current conditions on the /roads/ page.