Three people were injured, two of them seriously, when a crash closed down the intersection of Doniphan and Medano Drives in El Paso's Upper Valley on Monday evening. The El Paso Fire Department transported two people to a local hospital with serious injuries, while a third person was taken with only minor injuries.
The crash was reported at 5:57 p.m. Monday, according to the City of El Paso's public incident notification system, which logged the emergency police dispatch to the intersection. As reported by KFOX, the intersection remained closed until further notice as crews worked the scene, per the fire department.
A Corridor With A History Of Serious Wrecks
Doniphan Drive, designated Texas State Highway 20, is a roughly 15-mile commercial and commuter arterial that links El Paso's Westside and Upper Valley from Mesa Street up to the Texas-New Mexico state line, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. Medano Drive, where the crash occurred, is a local residential access road that connects Upper Valley neighborhoods and multi-family developments directly onto that busy highway, per Realtor.com.
Monday's collision is not an isolated event along the corridor. In January 2025, a multi-vehicle crash on Doniphan Drive killed two people and injured four others, drawing a response from both the El Paso Fire Department and the Texas Department of Public Safety, according to KTSM 9 News. Just this past April, emergency crews also responded to a motorcycle crash on Doniphan Drive near Artcraft Road that left two people injured, KTSM 9 News reported.
Safety Upgrades Meet Ongoing Construction Detours
TxDOT has previously taken steps to address safety on the corridor, completing construction in 2023 that installed raised concrete medians along portions of Doniphan Drive to eliminate hazardous bi-directional turn lanes and cut down on cross-traffic collisions, according to KVIA. The El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization and TxDOT have also developed an Intelligent Transportation System project for the highway, aiming to install fiber optic communications, CCTV traffic monitoring cameras, and dynamic message signs to improve real-time incident verification and emergency response.
Traffic on Doniphan Drive has also been affected by a much larger project nearby. TxDOT is in the midst of a $243.7 million expansion of State Highway 178, also known as Artcraft Road, which has caused nightly closures and pushed detour traffic onto surrounding Westside arterials, including Doniphan Drive, as of mid-2026, according to the Construction Equipment Guide.
Countywide Trends Amid Persistent Speeding Concerns
El Paso County recorded 80 motor vehicle traffic fatalities in 2024, a decrease from 101 traffic deaths the year before, according to TxDOT data. Statewide, speeding remained the leading contributing factor in serious crashes, involved in 150,129 traffic crashes across Texas roads in 2025 that led to 1,247 fatalities, per TxDOT.
Hoodline has previously reported on other serious incidents along the same stretch of highway, including a severe January 2025 Doniphan crash and a pedestrian struck on the corridor in Anthony this past December. No further details on the cause of Monday's crash or the condition of those hospitalized have been released.
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