Why do highway overpasses seem so much smaller below than above?

[SamAdams76]

Everybody's experienced this. You drive on a superhighway somewhere across the United States and the highway seems so huge. Three or four lanes in each direction with a median.

Then when you go under one of these superhighway overpasses, you look up above and the overpasses seem so narrow. You wonder to yourself how there can possibly be 3 or four lanes of heavy traffic above you on that skinny overpass!

I was taking a walk on this balmy spring evening and walked under the overpass for I-495 in Massachusetts. Above me, I could almost stretch my arms out and touch either end of the overpass. Yet I've driven this highway hundreds of times and it seems impossibly huge to do that (stretch my arms out and touch either side).

Why is that?

[JustaDumbBlonde]

You have really, really long arms?

[the invisib1e hand]

can they zot a veteran?

[DBrow]

Could be perspective. Down below you are at least 13 feet from the road, but driving, you are 4 feet.

Do the stretch your arms thing again below, then try it on R495 on an overpass, from the road*.

*Don’t actually try this- professional drivers on a closed course

[MediaMole]

Why is that?

Lysergic acid diethylamide

[Orange1998]

No. They are as close as mods you can get.

[GOPJ]

When you're in a car and have to pass a bicyclist - ever wonder if you have to move into the other lane to safely pass?

If so, think about the city bus in front of you (in the same lane) that has two seats on each side and an aisle down the center... and still room to pass the bicyclist.

And there's something weird about vanishing points...

[CaspersGh0sts]

Did you by chance purchase some brownies from some disheveled looking girl scouts on your way home today?

Because I’m kind of getting that vibe...

[Daffynition]

Math and perspective ...Brunelleschi figured it out in the 15th century. ;)

[Graybeard58]

It’s all a matter of perspective. Stand under the over pass on your head and it will look different. I guarantee it.

[Mr_Moonlight]

Why is that?

In all due FReespect ... you have way too much time on your hands pondering all this ....

/grin

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

And why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? Strange.

[buccaneer81]

Ted and Deval finally got to you? ;-)

[HAL9000]

[2harddrive]

Maybe by going under the overpass, you have accidentally entered into a tear in the fabric in our time-space continnum, and slipped sideways into another dimension, where the laws of physics are different?

[Graybeard58]

Stand on the ground and look at a roofs edge that’s 10 feet off the ground and if you are 6ft tall, you are only looking up about 4 ft., that doesn’t seem so high.

Stand on the edge of the roof and the ground is about 16 ft away. (From your eyes)

[camerakid400]

[nhoward14]

SamAdams must be your favorite beer. How many have you had tonight?

[Graybeard58]

entered into a tear in the fabric in our time-space continnum, and slipped sideways into another dimension, where the laws of physics are different?

Meet me here last Tuesday and we will discuss it further.

[buccaneer81]

Check out the overpasses on Storrow Drive for an all new perspective.

[Lijahsbubbe]

I was taking a walk on this balmy spring evening and walked under the overpass for I-495

I love walking under overpasses on balmy spring evenings!

[CJ Wolf]

on to the next topic...

[Graybeard58]

Remember “The Other Harry”?

[Tainan]

Yemana:[when he's stoned on the brownies with the hashish] Barney, Barney, Barney, is your mother from Killarney?
[a minute later]
Yemana: What do you say we guys go down to the beach, and shoot some clams?

[mowowie]

This is just like a The Other Harry post!

[Mr_Moonlight]

Stand on the ground and look at a roofs edge that’s 10 feet off the ground and if you are 6ft tall, you are only looking up about 4 ft., that doesn’t seem so high. Stand on the edge of the roof and the ground is about 16 ft away. (From your eyes)

GEEZ! That explains everything! Same reason why a ski slope looks a whole lot steeper looking down from the top than looking up from the bottom ..... I still have nightmares about the 40' slide that I took on "The Rumor" trail at Gore Mountain when I didn't hop-turn fast enough on the third turn and went into a bottomless slide ..... /laughs

[Lijahsbubbe]

"I swear this road was smaller from back there"

[Zechariah11]

Funniest video clip I’ve ever seen. How many freepers get this?

[Mr_Moonlight]

"The Rumor" is the middle trail in this pic ....

[buccaneer81]

Wake up, Sam! You’ve created a potential classic with this thread.

[uglybiker]

I sure don’t. Got a link?

[SamAdams76]

Seriously, this has puzzled me for years. Look at how wide this highway seems from up top...

Now check it out from below...

[HAL9000]

Remember “Classy Green-Eyed Blonde”?

[Ramius]

And why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? Strange.

...And howcome uptown and downtown are the same place?

[REDWOOD99]

My wife has this same problem when she looks at her butt in the mirror.

[martin_fierro]

[Zechariah11]

I love watching this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYxu_MQSTTY

[Mr_Moonlight]

Well, there you have it ... the "below" pic has a black cat with 9 lives crossing yer path. No wonder it appears jinxed and distorted some 9 times!

[count-your-change]

Maybe ya shoulda quit with a few less of them Sam Adams.
Late at night it makes everything SIGNIFICANT!

[antonia]

[Zeppo]

Why is that?

I dunno... Are you logged in?

[Zeppo]

I have the same problem when I look at her - um, never mind...

[LibertyRocks]

I can never get over how in the world those artists achieve their illusion. Absolutely masterful!

[Larry Lucido]

Optical illusion. Kinda like this one.

[fso301]

A variety of herbal and chemical compounds are known to cause similar perceptions.

[antonia]

[Minipax]

Don’t eat the brown acid

[anymouse]

There is a boat? I can’t even see water. ;)

[Mike Darancette]

It’s called perspective.

[Graybeard58]

Remember “Classy Green-Eyed Blonde”?

Can't say that I do. Was she like "The Other Harry"?