What Happened
A minor crash on westbound I-495 in Queens County closed two left lanes on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, according to incident records. The closure affected traffic heading toward the Queens–Midtown Tunnel and the broader New York City approach, the heaviest westbound load on the corridor.
No serious injuries were reported. The two left lanes were taken out of service following the collision, forcing westbound traffic to the right lanes while the scene was cleared.
No additional details — vehicle types, exact mile marker, crash mechanism, or responding agencies — were included in the initial incident record. Police have not yet released names of those involved.
Location & Road Context
I-495, the Long Island Expressway, carries westbound traffic through Queens into Manhattan and is one of the highest-volume stretches of roadway on the East Coast. The westbound Queens segment feeds directly into the Queens–Midtown Tunnel approach, where lane reductions at any point can back traffic several miles into Nassau County during peak hours.
According to Long Island Traffic’s incident registry, I-495 has recorded 106 incidents in the past 30 days and 487 so far in 2026 — making this stretch among the most incident-dense corridors tracked by the site. A separate minor crash on the I-495 HOV lane was recorded the same day, and four additional minor incidents on the corridor were logged September 15 alone. The most recent fatal crash on I-495 prior to this incident occurred August 26, 2026.
Queens County has 352 recorded accidents in Long Island Traffic’s local incident database. That total is a product of the volume of traffic moving through the borough’s highway network daily.