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Highway Report

Labor Day Weekend Road Recap

by MileCheck · September 8, 2026 · revised September 22, 2026

What the state road feeds showed from Thursday, Sept. 3 through Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026, in all 50 states and British Columbia. Crashes, closures, border waits, Seattle's drawbridges, wildfires, and the first ice of the season.

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How we got these numbers: MileCheck saves every state department of transportation (DOT) road alert as it's published. We counted what was on those feeds from Sept. 3 through Sept. 7. Not all states report the same data. Fire figures are as of Labor Day, Sept. 7, 4:50 PM Pacific; border waits are from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, saved every hour, in each crossing's local time. Rhode Island and New Mexico returned no records for the five days, and North Carolina and Idaho crash reports were not in our feed.

444crashes reported, in the 33 states and provinces that publish them

1,971closures on the feeds, all 51 jurisdictions

7,617roadwork records on the feeds

213Seattle drawbridge openings, Thursday through Monday

5.8Macres in 483 active wildfires, as of Labor Day

Crashes

444 crashes were reported from Sept. 3 through Sept. 7, in the 33 states and provinces that publish crash data. California reports the most crashes and carries the most traffic, so it leads any national list.

Crashes reported by state, Sept. 3 through Sept. 7

California — 96
New York — 47
Alabama — 37
Wisconsin — 27
Oregon — 25
Georgia — 24
Minnesota — 20
Florida — 19

Corridors with the most crash reports

I-95 — 15
I-10 — 14
I-84 — 12
I-15 — 11
I-5 — 10
I-80 — 8
I-90 — 8
I-91 — 7

Every state's own count is on its page below.

Closures and roadwork

1,971 closures and 7,617 roadwork records were on the feeds over the five days, across all 51 jurisdictions. Roadwork did not stop for the holiday. The number of roadwork records on the feeds dipped 5% on Saturday and was back near Thursday's level by Monday.

Seven records named Labor Day, and all of them were parades. Keokuk, Iowa closed US-136 and US-218. Malden, Indiana closed IN-49. Hoisington, Kansas closed US-281 for its festival. Pioche, Nevada closed SR-321 and SR-322.

Closures scheduled to run for years, one per state

Wisconsin, I-535 — 2,616 days, April 8, 2022 through June 6, 2029
Texas, US-87 — 2,070 days, March 2, 2026 through October 31, 2031
Washington, SR-165 — 1,902 days, April 16, 2025 through July 1, 2030
North Carolina, US-17 — 1,859 days, November 28, 2022 through December 31, 2027
Alabama, US-231 — 1,287 days, June 20, 2023 through December 28, 2026
Idaho, I-84 — 1,213 days, July 27, 2023 through November 21, 2026

Washington's SR-165 has been closed at the Carbon River bridge to all vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians since April 2025, with reopening posted for July 2030.

Corridors with the most records, all types

I-80 — 208 records across 12 states
I-10 — 156 records across 7 states
I-94 — 138 records across 6 states
US-101 — 137 records across 2 states
I-41 — 130 records across 1 state
I-95 — 120 records across 12 states
I-70 — 115 records across 9 states
US-1 — 112 records across 7 states

I-80 crosses eleven states. See it live on the I-80 map, or any corridor.

Border waits

The longest passenger-lane waits came Sunday evening and Monday, on the way home. Times are local to each crossing.

Longest passenger-lane waits, Sept. 3 through Sept. 7

Tecate (California) — 240 min, Sunday at 5 PM
San Ysidro (California) — 200 min, Monday at 2 AM
Del Rio (Texas) — 180 min, Monday at 6 PM
Otay Mesa (California) — 180 min, Sunday at 5 PM
Highgate Springs (Vermont) — 170 min, Monday at 4 PM
Brownsville / B&M (Texas) — 150 min, Monday at 6 PM
Eagle Pass / Bridge II (Texas) — 150 min, Monday at 5 PM

Blaine's Peace Arch crossing peaked at 50 minutes Sunday at 9 PM and averaged 9 minutes over the five days. On Labor Day the slowest hour there was 1 PM and the fastest was 5 PM. Live waits for all 85 crossings are at milecheckapp.com/borders.

Seattle drawbridges

Seattle's five drawbridges opened 213 times from Thursday through Monday. Fremont alone opened 86 times, about 17 a day.

Openings, Thursday through Monday

fremont — 86 openings, typically 4 minutes, longest 10
ballard — 73 openings, typically 4 minutes, longest 8
montlake — 41 openings, typically 6 minutes, longest 10
1st ave s — 8 openings, typically 10 minutes, longest 20
south park — 5 openings, typically 6 minutes, longest 6

Live status for all five is on the drawbridge map.

Wildfires

Wildfires are still affecting western states and British Columbia. As of Labor Day, Washington had 48 active fires, including two over 160,000 acres that were not yet contained. Oregon's biggest fires were mostly contained by the weekend. Across every state and province we track, 483 active fires covered 5,835,642 acres.

Largest fires by state, as of Labor Day, Sept. 7, 4:50 PM Pacific

Oregon: 74 active fires, 2,889,707 acres. Big Grass (Malheur County), 578,637 acres, 94% contained; Rowe Creek Complex (Wheeler County), 373,927 acres, 99% contained; Crosswhite (Wheeler County), 342,923 acres, 92% contained; Coleman Creek (Harney County), 308,863 acres, 99% contained.
British Columbia: 70 active fires, 1,024,216 acres. Pear Lake, 409,970 acres, containment not published; Ainslie Creek, 167,346 acres, containment not published; French Bar Creek, 152,676 acres, containment not published.
Washington: 48 active fires, 652,207 acres. Little Giant (Chelan County), 171,163 acres, 81% contained; Sinlahekin (Okanogan County), 166,116 acres, 59% contained; Kaiser Canyon (Okanogan County), 138,293 acres, 100% contained; Modrite (Ferry County), 57,594 acres, 100% contained.
Idaho: 20 active fires, 208,599 acres. Tartar (Washington County), 158,027 acres, 100% contained; Crooked (Boise County), 10,118 acres, 60% contained; Cascade (Idaho County), 7,475 acres, 50% contained.
Utah: 12 active fires, 198,209 acres. Widemouth 2 (Millard County), 129,741 acres, 97% contained; Snyder (Grand County), 28,264 acres, 100% contained; Rocky Canyon (Morgan County), 16,464 acres, 100% contained.
Colorado: 10 active fires, 162,548 acres. Aspen Acres (Custer County), 102,004 acres, 82% contained; Gold Mountain (Ouray County), 39,747 acres, 92% contained; Willow (Lake County), 7,534 acres, 80% contained.
Nevada: 9 active fires, 154,788 acres. Mouse Meadow (Nye County), 52,000 acres, 100% contained; McConnell (Humboldt County), 33,241 acres, 83% contained; Calico (Humboldt County), 18,319 acres, 98% contained.
Montana: 31 active fires, 114,986 acres. Sand Creek (Beaverhead County), 35,509 acres, 36% contained; Rattlesnake Complex (Prairie County), 15,582 acres, 97% contained; Snow (Custer County), 14,056 acres, 97% contained.

Live fire perimeters and the closures near them are at milecheckapp.com/fire.

Weather

Monarch Pass, Colorado was icy on Labor Day weekend. US-50 at milepost 199 eastbound read icy with a road surface between 16°F and 18°F on all five days. I-70 at Silverthorne and near Dumont read icy on single days. Alaska's Dalton Highway reported snow on the roadway at the Sag River and at Chandalar. No other jurisdiction reported ice or snow on a road surface.

By state

Each jurisdiction has its own page with the same measures.

The live version is in the app.

MileCheck shows state DOT feeds for crashes, closures, and delays in all 50 states, British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba as they are published, with your nearest mile marker.

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Built from MileCheck's archive of state DOT road feeds. The monthly Highway Report, the same treatment across a full month, starts with September 2026.