Interstate 35 lands among the 10 most dangerous roads in the United States

I-35 had 197 fatalities in 2019 and averaged 12.56 deaths per 100 miles

Image of I-35. (KSAT)

SAN ANTONIO – Drivers who frequent the Interstate 35 corridor likely already know that the road is a major headache for traffic and accidents.

But The Zebra, an Austin-based insurance comparison website, states that Interstate 35 is actually one of the deadliest stretches of road in the country.

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A report from The Zebra states that Interstate 35, which runs from Duluth, Minnesota to Laredo, is the fifth-most dangerous highway, based on fatalities.

The Zebra’s study was based on fatal accidents in 2019 that were reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. NHTSA has not released the full traffic data from 2020 and 2021, the study says.

In 2019, Interstate 35 logged 197 fatalities across its 1,568 total miles. The report does not state where the most deaths on the road occurred, but it runs through some of the most populated cities in the country including San Antonio, Dallas, Austin and Minneapolis.

The highway is also deadly because it “is the de facto route for thousands of 18-wheeler trucks, which makes it especially dangerous to navigate in some areas,” the study states.

The highway averaged 12.56 fatalities per 100 miles.

Interstate 20, which runs across West and North Texas, was listed as the second-most dangerous highway. It had 208 fatalities in 2019 and averaged 13.52 deaths per 100 miles.

Interstate 95 along the East Coast ranked as the most dangerous with 284 fatalities.


About the Author

Rebecca Salinas is an award-winning digital journalist who joined KSAT in 2019. She reports on a variety of topics for KSAT 12 News.

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