Cinnaminson Township officials approved about $80,000 in emergency funding at Monday’s committee meeting to repair the bridge over the Pompeston Creek on Devon Road.

Last month, the back wheels of a loaded trash truck broke through the decking of the bridge. The truck’s driver—most likely not even aware what happened—kept going.

Township committee had allocated funds for the bridge repair in this year’s budget anyway, but to speed up the process, approved extra emergency funds since to replace the entire thing.

Last year, when Hurricane Irene came through Cinnaminson, engineers from Remington & Vernick came out to check the bridge’s integrity. It was deemed structurally safe.

“I don’t want to say we were hopeful it was damaged,” said Deputy Mayor Anthony Minniti, “but had it been damaged to the point where it needed replacement, we would have been able to use FEMA money and not bond for the project.”

Since there was no damage, the township could not ask for emergency funding.

However, the township wanted to replace the decking—the top portion of the bridge. About $120,000 was allocated for that project in March. After last month’s damage, the township decided to replace the entire bridge—including the beams underneath. About $80,000 for that portion was approved Monday night.

Fred Turek, township engineer, said engineers are also checking out the Wayne Drive bridge.

“The bridge was ordered several seeks ago,” said Turek, of the Devon Road structure. “The idea here is to rebuild the bridge now and have it so it will last another 30 or 40 years.”

There was no weight limit posted on the bridge when the trash truck went over it and Minniti said there probably should have been. But after the new bridge is constructed, there will be weight limits posted.

The work will be done in-house, said Minniti. Construction will start after the funds are officially approved.

Stay with Patch for more as it comes in.