Abstract Multiple landsliding in both backslopes of the Interstate 45 road cut near Centerville, Texas, has been a recurrent problem since the cut was made. Landslide events can be correlated with periods of heavy rainfall. The west backslope slide moves in a downdip (southeasterly) direction, whereas the east backslope slide moves in an updip (northwesterly) direction. The road cut is primarily within the Eocene Queen City Formation, which at this locality is a fluvial deposit consisting of natural levee clay, crevasse-splay sands, and floodplain-marsh organic clay. The downdip impermeable floodplain clay retards the movement of ground water, thereby creating perched water tables and artesian conditions within the natural levee clay and crevasse-splay sand units updip. The positions of the two landslides opposite each other in the north end of the cut and within the levee clay and sand units are a direct result of stratigraphic and hydrologic conditions. In engineering terms, the highway backslopes are composed of overconsolidated, low- to high-plasticity clay and silt and poorly graded sand. Results of stability analyses, using shear-strength parameters determined from laboratory testing, indicate that initial slope failure occurred as a result of the combination of high pore-water pressure and oversteepening of the slopes. Subsequent failures have occurred because residual shear strengths are lower than initial (prefailure) shear strengths and because pore-water pressure increases during periods of heavy rainfall.