What Happened
A crash blocked all westbound lanes of I-495 in Queens County on Saturday, September 12, 2026. The incident was logged as minor in severity, according to the 511NY incident record. No time of initial impact has been released, and no responding agency has publicly named those involved.
The full-lane blockage on the westbound Long Island Expressway in Queens placed the disruption on one of the busiest highway approaches to New York City. No official account of vehicle types, collision mechanism, or cause had been released as of the time of this report. Police have not yet confirmed whether any occupants were transported to a hospital.
A separate minor incident — a collapsed manhole on I-495 — was also recorded on September 12, 2026, on the same corridor. Official records do not link the two events.
Location & Road Context
I-495 westbound through Queens County is the final stretch of the Long Island Expressway before it enters the Midtown Tunnel approach, making all-lanes-blocked incidents on this segment capable of backing traffic well into Nassau County. According to Long Island Traffic’s incident registry, I-495 has logged 93 recorded incidents in the past 30 days and 463 so far in 2026. The most recent prior fatal crash on the corridor occurred on August 26, 2026.
Queens County has 340 recorded accidents in Long Island Traffic’s local incident database. Four additional minor crashes on I-495 were recorded in the 48 hours before this event — on September 11 and September 10 — all logged on the same corridor.