The displaced wooden footbridge on the Third Creek Greenway was back in place Wednesday morning - a little more than three weeks after floodwaters picked it up and left it on a nearby bank.

A crew from All Crane Rental of Tennessee used a crane to lift the roughly 15,000-pound bridge and place it back on its supports. The City of Knoxville's Public Service Department will secure the bridge and repair its deck, today and tomorrow.

The company moved its equipment into place alongside the creek late Tuesday afternoon in preparation for lifting the bridge which crosses Third Creek about three-tenths of a mile from the greenway's Concord Road entrance.

The bridge, which has spanned the creek there since the early 1970s, was washed out during the flooding on February 28.

The City of Knoxville had initially sought to get it back into position and secured in time for the Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon on April 3. That section of the greenway is part of the marathon and half-marathon course.

It appears now that it will be ready for the Knoxville Track Club's Greenways 5K and 2 Mile Walk/Dog Jog on March 26.

"We kind of expected to be here all day," said Mike Bartholomew, with All Crane Rental, but the crew was able to lift the bridge and move it onto the foundation on the first try.

The Public Service Department had prepared the area clearing enough room on either side of the greenway for the crane to squeeze through and laying down a stone surface for the crane at the site.

The Third Creek Greenway is a key segment in the city's 50-mile network of greenways. It connects to greenways as far east as Morningside Park and west to Bearden Elementary School and gives runners, walkers and bicyclists to access downtown, the University of Tennessee, Cherokee Boulevard, Volunteer Landing and World's Fair Park.

Anywhere from 8,000 to 12,000 people use the trail each month, depending on the season.