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[jmacswimmer]

Your cliff description made think of Sideling Hill on I-68 but there's no bridge that fits your description.

Speaking of I-68, further west there's this high overpass just east of the WV/MD border.

[Troubleshooter]

Didn't they rebuilt that Pea Ridge bridge when I-64 was widened?

When was that? Did they widen the cut too?

Your cliff description made think of Sideling Hill on I-68 but there's no bridge that fits your description.

Speaking of I-68, further west there's this high overpass just east of the WV/MD border.

I have never been on I-68. And the bridge is lower than I remember. Could you provide a google for sideling hill? Search won't find it.

[seicer]

Didn't they rebuilt that Pea Ridge bridge when I-64 was widened?

CR 60/1 in Pea Ridge was rebuilt in 2003 with a revised substructure and an entirely new superstructure, and is 69 feet above the ground. It was originally built in 1962. https://goo.gl/maps/xjhCs64P5DDArvEK9

The other high-level bridge in the area is for CR 37/McCoy Road, which is 82 feet above the ground. It was built in 1963. https://goo.gl/maps/YMwQojckaaaj7Zwq5

[famartin]

I have never been on I-68. And the bridge is lower than I remember. Could you provide a google for sideling hill? Search won't find it.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7181798,-78.2809834,3a,75y,311.78h,86.53t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sbL7Jx5BHEdBVKf2u8btFcQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DbL7Jx5BHEdBVKf2u8btFcQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D164.98557%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

[The Ghostbuster]

For those who don't know who Victor Cushwa was (I certainly didn't since I'm from Wisconsin), here is Wikipedia's article on the former Maryland state senator: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Cushwa.

[Troubleshooter]

I have never been on I-68. And the bridge is lower than I remember. Could you provide a google for sideling hill? Search won't find it.

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7181798,-78.2809834,3a,75y,311.78h,86.53t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sbL7Jx5BHEdBVKf2u8btFcQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DbL7Jx5BHEdBVKf2u8btFcQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D164.98557%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

Thanks! That Sideling cut is wider at the top than what I remember. That's why I wondered if it was natural.

Didn't they rebuilt that Pea Ridge bridge when I-64 was widened?

CR 60/1 in Pea Ridge was rebuilt in 2003 with a revised substructure and an entirely new superstructure, and is 69 feet above the ground. It was originally built in 1962. https://goo.gl/maps/xjhCs64P5DDArvEK9

The other high-level bridge in the area is for CR 37/McCoy Road, which is 82 feet above the ground. It was built in 1963. https://goo.gl/maps/YMwQojckaaaj7Zwq5

Both of these do not fit what I remember. There is no high cliff on both sides, and both are hidden by curves a short distance away. I remember seeing that bridge a long time before I got there.

[Troubleshooter]

I want to recount my entire experience of this as I saw it.

I first saw the bridge from miles away as I crossed a plain. There was a very high cliff at the far end of the plain. The cliff face was nearly black and went in both directions (left and right) as far as I could see. The bridge was across a vertical slot in the cliff face near the edge of the cliff. Interstate 64 went into this slot in the cliff and ascended to the level of the cliff over several miles. As I entered the slot, I saw the bridge high overhead. The slot was at least 10 times as high as it was wide.

I saw this twice, in 1991 and 1995. Each time I was going to visit relatives in Norfo0lk VA. And each time, on the way home, we stopped in Washington DC and spent a day at the Smithsonian, so I did not return via I-64, but used I-70.
 

[Mapmikey]

No disrespect intended, but were you a pre-teen on those trips?  I have found in my own experience that things i saw as a youngster tended to be an exaggerated version of what it was.

Your description suggests the bridge would have to be 500+ feet above the interstate.  Here is a list of US bridges >130 ft high and WV has just 2 entries: US 19 New River Br and the I-64 bridge over Glade Creek.  Virginia has 6, which are not over I-64.

No bridge that seems to meet your criteria either in this thread - https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8710.msg202481#msg202481

i did find one bridge that meets more of your criteria, I-80 EB in Ohio, if you are misremembering what trip it was from.  This bridge is visible 4.2 miles away.  https://goo.gl/maps/wEukRE4Sbmru4uW7A

[GCrites80s]

That sounds like a really expensive cut. As in one that would be cheaper to tunnel.

[Troubleshooter]

No disrespect intended, but were you a pre-teen on those trips?  I have found in my own experience that things i saw as a youngster tended to be an exaggerated version of what it was.

Your description suggests the bridge would have to be 500+ feet above the interstate.  Here is a list of US bridges >130 ft high and WV has just 2 entries: US 19 New River Br and the I-64 bridge over Glade Creek.  Virginia has 6, which are not over I-64.

No bridge that seems to meet your criteria either in this thread - https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8710.msg202481#msg202481

i did find one bridge that meets more of your criteria, I-80 EB in Ohio, if you are misremembering what trip it was from.  This bridge is visible 4.2 miles away.  https://goo.gl/maps/wEukRE4Sbmru4uW7A

I was 40 the first trip. I was driving the car. And the sight was something quite unusual that I noted.

I have never been on I-80 east of Toledo.

I am really puzzled by this. I wanted to find it to show a picture of it to someone.

I know it was on this trip. But it possibly could have been in Kentucky or Virginia. But I traveled the entire trip on Google Maps street view just before I came here.

I am thinking that something has happened or was done so this is not there anymore. Maybe the cliff part fell or an I-64 bridge was replaced and made higher. Maybe a railroad was removed and the bridge taken down.

I also just had the thought that there might have been two different cuts for the two directions of I-64. That would halve the height of the bridge.

I also just remembered something else. I was looking for it the second trip, and I had thought it was at the KY-WV line at the bridge over the Big Sandy. But it was not there. It was much later in the trip. So it was not in KY.

[Mapmikey]

Any chance you missed the I-64 exit from the WV Turnpike and had to turnaround at the next exit?  Meets your criteria for split level interstate and as of 2011 was still visible 1.1 miles away.

Cause then you'd have this - https://goo.gl/maps/CZZM6rd7jMk2fMDr9  though chances are small this happened twice.

Otherwise, a removed bridge or even coal chute could be what happened.  A look around historicaerials.com searching for structures no longer present didn't turn up anything.

[Troubleshooter]

Any chance you missed the I-64 exit from the WV Turnpike and had to turnaround at the next exit?  Meets your criteria for split level interstate and as of 2011 was still visible 1.1 miles away.

Cause then you'd have this - https://goo.gl/maps/CZZM6rd7jMk2fMDr9  though chances are small this happened twice.

Otherwise, a removed bridge or even coal chute could be what happened.  A look around historicaerials.com searching for structures no longer present didn't turn up anything.

Thank you. We already thought of that bridge.

I also had thought it was just east of Beckley. There are several deep defiles there.

Thanks everyone.

Fixed quote.  -Mark