It was the car in the lane next to her.
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"I thought it was a guy's arm with tattoos at first," she said.
What she saw was the tail of what appeared to be a python.
"It was 6 to 8 feet long," she said.
The images she captured showed the snake draped across the dashboard. At first, only its tail was resting outside the open window.
"I saw the tail move and I thought oh my gosh, he has a snake," she said.
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No stranger to snakes, Cranfill said she has spotted them in her backyard. Not long ago, she was bitten by one.
"But it didn't envenomate me," she said.
According to Cranfill, the snake moved a lot inside the car.
"He would gently pull it back in. I pulled away from the car, because at one point I thought the snake might fall out. I don't like snakes, but I didn't want to hit someone's pet," Cranfill said.
For Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Danny Perez, it's a case of distracted driving.
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"People's attention needs to be focused on the road," he said. "At any time, you can come up on a construction zone, and if you're distracted, it can have terrible consequences."
Perez also advised pet owners with "active" animals to confine them to carriers, which would include a python.
RECENT HIGHWAY INCIDENTS ACROSS HOUSTON
Past highway incidents across the Houston area.
* Highway 290 shut down following naked woman on freeway
* Men play a game of street hoops on Houston roadway
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