A deadly crash shut down eastbound US 290 at Kimbro Road in Manor on Saturday, marking at least the third serious collision at that same intersection since the spring. Manor Police said officers were on the scene investigating a fatality, and drivers were urged to find alternate routes as delays built up in the area.
Police reported the crash and closure in a Facebook post, according to KXAN Austin, which described the incident as a developing story still under investigation. The eastbound side of US 290 was closed at the Kimbro Road intersection, and the station's report noted that drivers should expect delays and seek other routes if possible. Few other details, including how the crash unfolded or how many vehicles were involved, had been released as of Saturday evening.
A Familiar and Deadly Stretch of Highway
This is not the first time this exact junction has turned fatal. On July 3, a two-vehicle collision at US 290 and Old Kimbro Road killed 58-year-old Elgin resident William Ewer and left his wife, Brenda Ewer, critically injured, according to the Elgin Courier. Manor Police detained and charged the driver of the second vehicle in that crash, Carlos David Martinez Sanchez, with driving without a license, the paper reported. Hoodline previously covered that crash in a pre-dawn Manor crash report.
Months before that, on March 22, a 19-year-old female driver suffered serious injuries when an eastbound sedan and a westbound pickup truck collided at the same intersection, according to a report from the Grossman Law Offices. And the danger along this corridor stretches back further still — in October 2020, a 40-year-old driver died in the 12500 block of Old Kimbro Road, just south of US 290, after her pickup truck veered off the road and crashed through wooden and chain-link fences, according to Vision Zero ATX.
State Plans Target the Intersection, But Fixes Take Time
State safety plans call for reconfiguring the US 290 and Kimbro Road intersection into a Restricted Crossing U-Turn, or RCUT, design intended to eliminate direct crossing conflict points and prevent stop-sign running collisions, per KXAN Austin's reporting. The concept is meant to stop the kind of T-bone and crossing crashes that have repeatedly struck this junction, though it is unclear from available information whether construction has moved beyond the planning stage.
The state has already committed money to safety upgrades nearby. In June 2022, the Texas Transportation Commission approved funding for a hooded left-turn lane, a culvert, and cable barrier modifications to the grassy median along eastbound US 290 between Old Kimbro Road and FM 1100 in Manor, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. TxDOT's history with this segment of highway includes a costly legal reckoning: in November 2018, a jury ordered the agency to pay $5 million after finding it negligent in a 2016 double-fatality crash on US 290 between Manor and Elgin, ruling that officials knew of the segment's dangerous wet-weather crash history but failed to act in time, according to KVUE.
Growth Outpaces Rural Roads in Eastern Travis County
The recurring crashes reflect a broader strain on roadways never built for the pace of development now reshaping eastern Travis County. TxDOT data shows more than 230 crashes along nearby Manor corridors like FM 973 between 2019 and 2026, according to McFarlane Law. In January 2023, TxDOT issued environmental approval for a 5.7-mile project expanding FM 973 from two to six lanes between SH 130 and US 290 East in Manor to handle surging commuter volume, the agency said.
Local emergency responders are feeling the pressure too. Travis County Emergency Services District 12, which handles fire and rescue response along the US 290 corridor in Manor, responded to 5,216 emergency calls in 2024 and opened Station 1204 on US 290 in May to keep pace with demand, according to the district. Saturday's fatal crash remains under investigation, and Manor Police have not released further details about what led to the collision.
