OKI Wanna Know is our series that looks for answers to local curiosities. You ask the question, and WVXU's Bill Rinehart tries to answer them.
Daniel Browne of Clifton wonders what the steepest street in Cincinnati is.
"I've always thought Straight Street — it's an impressive street, it's pretty steep, but it just doesn't seem like it's the steepest street in town," he says. "I feel like my car struggles going up some other streets, but not really on Straight Street."
Straight Street is not the steepest street in Cincinnati. Not by a long shot. Straight Street, going east from West McMicken, is only a 12.5% grade, according to the Cincinnati Department of Transportation and Engineering. As it approaches Ravine, it settles into a 12% grade.
If that sounds gentle, consider the Straight Street Hill Climb, which organizers describe as "two minutes of self-inflicted torture." Greg McCormick is one of them, and says that's roughly the record for running up the hill in the annual race.
"It was started back in the mid '70s — I think around 1976 by what was then the Clifton Track Club."
McCormick says over the years, there have been races up other hills.
"Monastery Hill in Mt. Adams was always one of the mainstays," he says. "We've been up Indian Hill Road, been up Anderson Ferry Road. They all had their pluses and minuses; some were longer, some were not as hard as Straight Street, but they all were interesting."
The DOTE compiled a list of the steepest streets and their lengths, because people keep asking. There's Clyde Street, in Riverside, which is at a 30% grade for 89 feet. Hoffner Street, in South Cumminsville, is also at a 30% grade, but that stretch is a whopping 195 feet long.
Straight Street, with that easy 12.5% grade, is 1,331-feet long between McMicken and Ravine.
"It may not be the steepest hill in town, and it may not be the longest hill in town, but when you put the qualities that it does have together, it's one of the most difficult ones in the city." McCormick says, adding the race will return the third Sunday this November.
Here are the top 10 steepest streets in Cincinnati, courtesy of the Cincinnati Department of Transportation and Engineering:
| Street | From | To | Grade % | Neighborhood |
| Clyde | Hillside | Kistner | 30 | Riverside |
| Hoffner | Cass | Tappan | 30 | South Cumminsville |
| Lang | Peete | Mulberry | 27 | Over-the-Rhine |
| Lierman | Schoedinger | Quebec | 27 | East Price Hill |
| Manchester | McMicken | Mohawk | 23.5 | Over-the-Rhine |
| Baurichter | McWilliams | Fithian | 23 | Riverside |
| Empress | Lawler | 23 | Columbia Tusculum | |
| Islington | Whetsel | Watterson | 23 | Madisonville |
| Saffin | Horton | Pinckney | 23 | South Fairmount |
| Clyde | Edgar | Hillside | 22 | Riverside |
A crosswalk's presidential ties?
David Moughton of Anderson Township came up with a question while sitting at a stoplight listening to an episode of OKI Wanna Know:
"Along Columbia Parkway, at the Taft intersection, why is there a crosswalk across Columbia Parkway? There doesn't seem to be any destination," he says.
You can walk south across Columbia Parkway where it meets Taft and Torrence Parkway. In fact, the lines for the crossing were recently repainted; a pedestrian island, complete with a yellow lamp, was rebuilt; and the buttons to stop traffic for a safe crossing actually work.
But from there, there's nowhere to go — unless, of course, you want to fight your way through bushes and trees down the hill.
There are a lot of theories about the crosswalk. Cincinnati's Department of Transportation and Engineering reports there might have been a scenic overlook there, but it wasn't designed for that purpose.
Metro says there used to be a streetcar line there before it was Columbia Parkway, and it may have stopped there. There might have been a bus stop at one time, too.
Just down the hillside, there are railroad tracks that are still used occasionally for cargo, and a passenger excursion run. But 100 years ago, the tracks carried commuters. There was a train station a few dozen yards to the east.
Former TV reporter Jeff Hirsh did a story on the Torrence Road station in 2019.
"It was a suburban station, just like many railroads had and have suburban stations on the way in and out of the main Downtown station. So it was significant," he says.
Hirsh says the Torrence Road station had an elevator to lift passengers to a foot bridge over the tracks. He says that might tie the Columbia Parkway crosswalk to former President William Howard Taft, who lived in Mount Auburn.
"One story is that the elevator that existed there was put in for his wife, who — I think she had a stroke. But I don't think that's true because the elevator was installed before he was president. But anyway, I think the elevator was installed just to get people over the tracks. You could bring baggage up and over. It's a story that's told, but other people who've looked into have said they doubt that."
The Cincinnati Public Library digital archives reveal why this crosswalk to nowhere was first created. Maps from 1904, and more clearly from 1922, show Green Alley leading from Columbia Avenue at Taft to Gladstone Avenue, which runs alongside the railroad tracks. Green Alley also connects Gladstone to Eastern Avenue, which is now known as Riverside Drive.
There is no trace of Green Alley today. So, why is the Columbia Parkway crosswalk maintained? Cincinnati Department of Transportation and Engineering says there's a proposal for a housing development on the hillside south of Columbia Parkway. The development would go hand in hand with a pedestrian/bicycle path connecting Riverside with Columbia, and Taft and Torrence Parkway, but the housing and the path haven't come to fruition yet.
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