Highest overpasses

[Flint1979]

You might be scared crossing the Zilwaukee Bridge in Michigan. It's 125 feet high at the midpoint of the bridge. I just crossed it yesterday for my most recent trip over it.

This is on M-13 on the east side of the bridge.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4775314,-83.906584,3a,24.9y,6.56h,92.84t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPJ5X8OGNJH6AquC9Q5hdWw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

This is on the Zilwaukee side along Westervelt Road. You can also see power lines going under the bridge here.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4852311,-83.9171525,3a,75y,185.13h,107.72t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sqqFF1AMOP34FKsXItUS7fw!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DqqFF1AMOP34FKsXItUS7fw%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D74.27941%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

This is on top of the bridge with downtown Saginaw on the horizon.
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4820215,-83.9124966,3a,15y,202.36h,90.77t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1siQbJFuP5r5m7D_f3Js5bFA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[MCRoads]

Better not go to Dallas then, this ramp is 138 feet tall! That is as high as a 12 story building!

I've driven thru the Dallas High Five interchange many times, including on those top level ramps. The ramps are really tall, but they don't seem all that bad due to all the other ramps nearby and other levels of bridges running underneath. In Wichita Falls that tall flyover ramp from EB Kell Freeway to I-44 is more isolated and out in the open. That allows the height of that ramp to seem more exaggerated, even if it isn't as tall as the top level ramps in the Dallas High Five interchange.

Well then, you will like the I-110/I-105 HOV connectors! At 130 ft (according to Wikipedia), these ramps are almost as high as the High Five, but without as many ramps on that level. Looking at street view, you can see an incredible, uninstructed view as to how high the bridges are.

(I'll add GSV links later, as I am on mobile, and GSV isn't super friendly with module links on desktop.)

In fact, it is notable enough that it is the only interchanges I can think of off the top of my head that is used as a plot device in a book. In one of the Jack Reacher books, it was used as a vantage point to look into the nearby neighborhoods.

[ethanhopkin14]

This one I think is deceiving.  The closer one is signed as 20' 5" so the much taller one must be....much taller. 

[roadman65]

On a similar note as the post above, I-64 over US19 in Beckley, WV springs to mind, of the high overpasses I have seen from my own POV:

https://goo.gl/maps/ZCpcrx6XHuS2

Then there is one high one over I-64 at the end of this bridge.
https://goo.gl/maps/H9hQGDJEADVTAfUT7

[kphoger]

On a similar note as the post above, I-64 over US19 in Beckley, WV springs to mind, of the high overpasses I have seen from my own POV:

https://goo.gl/maps/ZCpcrx6XHuS2

Then there is one high one over I-64 at the end of this bridge.
https://goo.gl/maps/H9hQGDJEADVTAfUT7

Is that for a road that isn't even used anymore?  What was its original purpose?

[webny99]

On a similar note as the post above, I-64 over US19 in Beckley, WV springs to mind, of the high overpasses I have seen from my own POV:

https://goo.gl/maps/ZCpcrx6XHuS2

Then there is one high one over I-64 at the end of this bridge.
https://goo.gl/maps/H9hQGDJEADVTAfUT7

Is that for a road that isn't even used anymore?  What was its original purpose?

It sure looks used to me, and not even just by drivers; by yard salers too!

[kphoger]

On a similar note as the post above, I-64 over US19 in Beckley, WV springs to mind, of the high overpasses I have seen from my own POV:

https://goo.gl/maps/ZCpcrx6XHuS2

Then there is one high one over I-64 at the end of this bridge.
https://goo.gl/maps/H9hQGDJEADVTAfUT7

Is that for a road that isn't even used anymore?  What was its original purpose?

It sure looks used to me, and not even just by drivers; by yard salers too!

No, the one over I-64.

[webny99]

On a similar note as the post above, I-64 over US19 in Beckley, WV springs to mind, of the high overpasses I have seen from my own POV:

https://goo.gl/maps/ZCpcrx6XHuS2

Then there is one high one over I-64 at the end of this bridge.
https://goo.gl/maps/H9hQGDJEADVTAfUT7

Is that for a road that isn't even used anymore?  What was its original purpose?

It sure looks used to me, and not even just by drivers; by yard salers too!

No, the one over I-64.

Sorry, I realized my misunderstanding, but not fast enough to get my edit in before your reply.

Based on your link, I suspect it's a pedestrian and possibly ATV crossing.

Or maybe just a really long driveway to provide access to these properties.

[Dirt Roads]

On a similar note as the post above, I-64 over US19 in Beckley, WV springs to mind, of the high overpasses I have seen from my own POV:
https://goo.gl/maps/ZCpcrx6XHuS2

Then there is one high one over I-64 at the end of this bridge.
https://goo.gl/maps/H9hQGDJEADVTAfUT7

Is that for a road that isn't even used anymore?  What was its original purpose?

That was definitely a railroad track.  Even though it looks like a private driveway to the east of the bridge

Although its my "home road", I wasn't involved in much branch line work.  This track was connected to the track you can see just to the north of I-64, which is the CSX Piney Creek Subdivision (a former Chesapeake & Ohio branch line to Beckley, Mabscott and Glen Daniels).  Back in my days, there were two branches to the south in this area: the Glade Creek & Raleigh sub and the Raleigh, Southwestern & Winding Gulf sub.  Since part of the RS&WG is still working, my guess is the line crossing over I-64 was the Glade Creek & Raleigh sub.  There were some privately owned mine tracks in that area (but none of those directly connected to the Piney Creek sub as far back as the 1980 timetable).

Note that Glade Creek is same one as I-64 bridges over the Glade Creek Gorge further east of here.  Not as spectacular as the New River Gorge Bridge, but the Phil MacDonald Bridge sits 700 feet above the gorge and the main span is just a hair over 780 feet long.

[kphoger]

It was a railroad, yet there's a hard curb along the gutter?

[ethanhopkin14]

It was a railroad, yet there's a hard curb along the gutter?

Yeah, I am not buying the railroad thing either.  According to historical aerials, it was never anything other than a road.  The bridge was being constructed in 1986 and was already a dirt road in 1990.  In general, railroads don't get abandoned that fast.  I will also say this is my opinion and I have never been to this area, not am I familiar with the history there.

[webny99]

I would also agree that it probably is not a railroad. It doesn't look anything like a typical railroad crossing. It looks like a regular bridge that's only half the normal width (one lane instead of two). Which is why I'm standing by my original assertion:

I suspect it's a pedestrian and possibly ATV crossing.

Or maybe just a really long driveway to provide access to these properties.

[Dirt Roads]

It was a railroad, yet there's a hard curb along the gutter?

Yeah, I am not buying the railroad thing either.  According to historical aerials, it was never anything other than a road.  The bridge was being constructed in 1986 and was already a dirt road in 1990.  In general, railroads don't get abandoned that fast.  I will also say this is my opinion and I have never been to this area, not am I familiar with the history there.

What caught my attention is the near perfect arc coming off the west end of the bridge curling northwest and connecting to the Piney Creek Sub down along the creek below.  That looks like an excavation cut almost the entire distance.  Also, the width of that bridge deck is substandard even for roads back in the 1980s.  It's interesting that today's GSV is drawing a road curling southwest off the bridge and zig-zagging towards the town below.  I can't find any evidence of that one.

The Chessie System timetable (1980) shows the trackage on the Glade Creek and Raleigh sub connecting the "stations" of Blue Jay Junction, Glen Morgan and Beaver.  And sure enough, this one checks out.  Glen Morgan is down on Piney Creek below this bridge, so this "station" would have been close to where the bridge is today.  If you rotate GSV away from the bridge, the backroad is a perfect railroad grade continuing as Mountain Edge Road and connecting tangent to CR-9/9 and later CR-9/8 (Orchard Hill Road) almost all the way into "downtown" Beaver.  Add a thick Appalachian accent here "We don't have many roads like that in West Virginia, if yoo know whut I mean".  But I do wonder why the last half-mile of Orchard Hill Road veers away from the railroad grade.

Chances are good that the trackage was abandoned in place at the time that I-64 was being designed, so DOH probably designed the bridge to accommodate both either a track or road.  West Virginia was reticent to cut off trackage access to big coal mines that might ever be able to reopen.  About the only way to know for sure is to check whether the bridge was designed for railroad loads (including a layer of track ballast, crossties and rails on the deck).

[Dirt Roads]

What caught my attention is the near perfect arc coming off the west end of the bridge curling northwest and connecting to the Piney Creek Sub down along the creek below.  That looks like an excavation cut almost the entire distance.  Also, the width of that bridge deck is substandard even for roads back in the 1980s.  It's interesting that today's GSV is drawing a road curling southwest off the bridge and zig-zagging towards the town below.  I can't find any evidence of that one.

The Chessie System timetable (1980) shows the trackage on the Glade Creek and Raleigh sub connecting the "stations" of Blue Jay Junction, Glen Morgan and Beaver.  And sure enough, this one checks out.  Glen Morgan is down on Piney Creek below this bridge, so this "station" would have been close to where the bridge is today.  If you rotate GSV away from the bridge, the backroad is a perfect railroad grade continuing as Mountain Edge Road and connecting tangent to CR-9/9 and later CR-9/8 (Orchard Hill Road) almost all the way into "downtown" Beaver.  Add a thick Appalachian accent here "We don't have many roads like that in West Virginia, if yoo know whut I mean".  But I do wonder why the last half-mile of Orchard Hill Road veers away from the railroad grade.

Chances are good that the trackage was abandoned in place at the time that I-64 was being designed, so DOH probably designed the bridge to accommodate both either a track or road.  West Virginia was reticent to cut off trackage access to big coal mines that might ever be able to reopen.  About the only way to know for sure is to check whether the bridge was designed for railroad loads (including a layer of track ballast, crossties and rails on the deck).

Found a map of coal mines on the Chesapeake & Ohio at the West Virginia State Archives showing the "station" of Blue Jay Junction and this particular trackage.  Not conclusive yet, but it does show something that I ought to clarify.  This map shows the C&O portion of the Glade Creek and Raleigh branch curling off to the southeast, and a private railroad (probably owned by a coal company) branching off from that and going southwest toward Beaver then turning south to Daniels.  So much of what I described above is likely the same railroad, except the portion running westward along Orchard Hill Road probably never belonged to the C&O/Chessie.  I wonder if the Glade Creek and Raleigh branch followed what's now Orchard Hill Road eastward over towards the Airport Road exit on I-64.

https://westvirginiaarchiveshistory.zenfolio.com/p974981478/h86778b94#h86778c44
[Not a lot of detail here.  There's a back side of this map with text only showing the names of the coal mines shown.]

[Dirt Roads]

That was definitely a railroad track.  Even though it looks like a private driveway to the east of the bridge

I suspect it's a pedestrian and possibly ATV crossing.

Or maybe just a really long driveway to provide access to these properties.

It was a railroad, yet there's a hard curb along the gutter?

I would also agree that it probably is not a railroad. It doesn't look anything like a typical railroad crossing. It looks like a regular bridge that's only half the normal width (one lane instead of two). Which is why I'm standing by my original assertion:

You'all are correct.  I found a 1983 topo map with I-64 under construction that already shows the railroad gone and an unimproved road in its place.  It only shows an unimproved road spiraling northwest off the bridge (that was drawn on yesterday's GSV, but was gone today).  It looks like that road connected down to two houses on the south side of the railroad that would have been landlocked by the construction of I-64.  There's no evidence of those houses today.  Also, it's not obvious that the old Glade Creek and Raleigh branch was going down through a cut in a northeastward spiral.  That looks like a real cove.

https://www.topoquest.com/map.php?lat=37.75777&lon=-81.15398&datum=nad83&zoom=2&map=auto&coord=d&mode=zoomin&size=m&cross=on

[webny99]

I-480 over Valley Pkwy in Fairview Park, OH (just outside Cleveland).

Here's another Cleveland-area example that I don't think has been mentioned yet: I-271 over Riverside Road near Cuyahoga National Park.

[SkyPesos]

US 22 bridge over the Little Miami River and Old OH 3

View from the adjacent Old OH 3 bridge over the same river

[webny99]

I-480 over Valley Pkwy in Fairview Park, OH (just outside Cleveland).

Here's another Cleveland-area example that I don't think has been mentioned yet: I-271 over Riverside Road near Cuyahoga National Park.

Keeping my Cleveland theme going with I-90 near downtown. Great view from above, too.

[kphoger]

Great view from above, too.

Try again.

[SkyPesos]

Unrelated with the thread, but found something else that's rare in Ohio from that above example

Green enhanced mile markers 

[webny99]

Great view from above, too.

Try again.

Thought you were throwing shade on the view until I re-clicked the link. Fixed.

[kphoger]

Puente Santa Lucía

GSV from the lower road is unfortunately out of date, but...  here's the view down from above.  And here is one of the pilings from below, during construction.  You can see both roads in this user-submitted photo.

[Steve.S]

Jeremiah Morrow bridge (I-71) over the Little Miami bike trail (and Little Miami River), near Oregonia, OH.

Bonus GSV shot of one of the old spans still in place during bridge replacement construction a few years ago:

https://goo.gl/maps/21QhhEUomcnbcGVG9

[webny99]

How about this one in Harrisburg, PA?

[empirestate]

How about this one in Harrisburg, PA?

That's definitely one that I'd distinguish as a viaduct rather than an overpass.