Mead Avenue Bridge
Photos
Jack E. Boucher, Photographer, July 1971. Aerial Reconnaissance Ii, Erie Railway Survey
Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record
Facts
- Overview
- Two-span Whipple through truss bridge over French Creek on Mead Avenue in Meadville
- Location
- Meadville, Crawford County, Pennsylvania
- Status
- Closed to all traffic
- Future prospects
- A project to replace this bridge is currently at study/design stage. There is no current plan to relocate the bridge, and as such under the current plan it will be demolished if no new owner and location is found.
- History
- Built 1871; additional trusses added 1912
- Builders
- - Penn Bridge Co.
- Rodgers Brothers Co.
- Design
- Whipple through truss with supplemental Baltimore through truss attached
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 128.9 ft.
Total length: 264.1 ft.
Deck width: 19.4 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 8.2 ft.
- Recognition
- Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.63778, -80.16278 (decimal degrees)
41°38'16" N, 80°09'46" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 17/569728/4609898 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Meadville
- Inventory numbers
- PA 20 7301 8820 3000 (Pennsylvania Bridge Management System number)
PANBI 13530 (Pennsylvania BRKEY bridge number on the 2011 NBI)
BH 42769 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 01/2007)
- Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Critical (2 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Serious (3 out of 9)
Appraisal: Structurally deficient
Sufficiency rating: 0.0 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2006)
- 10,000
Update Log
- October 29, 2010: New photos from Jason Smith
- August 13, 2010: New Street View added by Jason Smith
- January 4, 2010: Updated by Nathan Holth: Updated technical facts for bridge.
- August 12, 2009: New photos from James Baughn
- June 12, 2009: Added by James Baughn
Sources
- HAER PA-19 - Mead Avenue Bridge, Spanning French Creek at Mead Avenue, Meadville, Crawford County, PA
- James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
- Nathan Holth
- Jason Smith - JDSmith77 [at] gmx [dot] net
- Bridgemapper.com - by Todd Wilson and Lauren Winkler
- The Bridgehunter's Chronicle article on Mead Avenue Bridge in Meadville, PA - Column from pontist, photographer, and writer Jason D. Smith
- Luke Harden - lukemh9 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Wayne Grodkiewicz - WGrodkiewi [at] aol [dot] com
- Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
Comments
The bridge is still there as of 7/21/12. I was in Pennsylvania and drove by it. That bridge replacement sign might be there but I do not recall seeing it.
As of May 2009, the bridge was still there. I saw a sign posted during my visit to the bridge that it would take a nominal amount to save the bridge
True, although there's not much left in Pittsburgh that has anything to do with steel anymore, which seems to be true everywhere.
Many cities seem to have lost a lot of what made them famous, so to speak, since there's only one (major) brewery left in Beer City. There are't many tires being made in Akron nor pumps in Fort Wayne. Not many cars are being made in Motown anymore and the Second City? It's the Third City now. Of course, the the source of the wind in the Windy City (politicians) is still well supplied and they all still have plenty of hot air.
I have always given Pennsylvania credit because of the large number of surviving HBs in the state and the fact that many of them are actually painted. This demolition frenzy must be a fairly recent policy.
It seems ironic that a state that is so associated with iron, steel, and bridge fabrication would be so quick to remove even the most significant HBs.
Surprised it's doomed? It's in Pennsylvania. A plan to *SAVE* it...now, *THAT* would be a surprise.
This has to be one of the most historically significant truss bridges in the United States. I am surprised to see it listed in the "Doomed" Category.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/pa/crawford/mead-avenue/