Footbridge in Cherry Hill repaired: Getting 'the community moving back and forth' again.

The sweet aroma of fresh lumber above the stream behind Knollwood Drive in Cherry Hill on Monday afternoon symbolized the end of angst for neighborhood residents.

A footbridge deemed unsafe that had been shut down since March 12 reopened on Friday and reconnected neighbors — particularly worshippers who on the the Sabbath must walk to Orthodox synagogues from their homes — to Cooper Landing Road.

Without the bridge, which has an entrance from a long sidewalk between two homes on Knollwood Drive, the walk more than doubled in length to more than a mile.

Last Wednesday, Mayor David Fleisher announced that a temporary solution would allow the bridge to open by April 11. But the Township turned around the fix in just a couple of days.

Wooden planks were laid on the bridge and the steel superstructure temporarily repaired "so we could get the community moving back and forth," Brian Bauerle, chief of staff in the mayor's office, told 70and73.com on Monday morning.

A new bridge later this year will completely replace the existing one, the mayor has said.

70and73.com coverage from last week: Bridging Lives: Cherry Hill Township moving fast to reconnect a neighborhood to synagogue, ball fields.

The bridge joins more than just members of the Jewish community to their synagogues. Young baseball players need the bridge as the spring baseball season is just getting started at the Cherry Hill National Athletic League fields on the Cooper Landing Road side of the bridge.

Baurele had no estimates of the cost of the short-term repairs on the bridge or the price of a new one. The bridge was last replaced in fall 2011 at a cost of $55,247.