The Columbia Parkway in Cincinnati is one of the more heavily trafficked roads in southwest Ohio. It provides a 6.4-mile connection between downtown Cincinnati and its eastern suburbs as it runs along the Ohio River. However, landslides on the steep slope above it have impacted travelers almost since Columbia Avenue was expanded in 1938.
Seasonal hillside instability has led to gradual downslope soil creep all the way from the East End neighborhood atop the hill. The most abrupt and severe landslide events were in 1975, when 160 ft of the parkway retaining wall were knocked down, and in 1996, when a slide mass abruptly slid across four of the five travel lanes.