Mead Avenue Bridge

Check this one out before it is relegated to the dust bin of history, which could be as soon as this summer!  This bridge was built in 1871 and it is showing its age.  If you look down there are steel girders that are rusted through.  There are boards missing on the sidewalks and the handrail is halfway down to the creek in some places.

On the upstream side there is a good view of the confluence of Cussewago Creek and French Creek and also the abandoned railroad bridge for the spur line that used to go to Avtex.  

The Mead Avenue Bridge Project website will tell you a lot about this bridge, including the plans for it's demolition and replacement.  For now it is a nice car-free way to enjoy a view of French Creek.

 On the bridge:

The view from the Bicentennial Park boat launch:

 Looking upstream:

Twisted metal:

Crawford County GIS

Last year Crawford County finally introduced a free online GIS website.  I applaud whoever it was at the county who got this project put through.  Go to http://crawfordcountypa.net/gis and try it for yourself.

If you want to see lot lines, you have to check the box on the left menu for "Tax Parcels Group".  Once you have this enabled, you can zoom in to your area of interest and then switch to the "i" tool (Map Identify) which is available in the upper left corner in order to view the information for any parcel. 

This is a great way to find out who owns land in order to be able to avoid trespassing.  Surprisingly, there are quite a few city, state, and township owned parcels that I was not aware of.  There are areas of Meadville where there used to be buildings where there is just forest now, like Cussewago Island.  In these areas, there are still street right of ways although you wouldn't know it if you were standing there!