AUBURN — Route 136 in Auburn reopened this morning at 9:30 a.m., nearly a month ahead of schedule.

The road has been closed since Sept. 2 when part of it washed into the river and collapsed under the weight of a crane working on a stabilization project. For the past three months, drivers between Auburn and Freeport we redirected to a 10-mile detour along the other side of the river.

According to a press release from the Maine Department of Transportation, construction crews finished realigning a half-mile section of the road approximately 250 feet away from the area of the riverbank that collapsed. While the road is open for traffic, crews are still working to stabilize the slope along that section of the road.

Crews worked seven days a week to complete the project as quickly as possible for a Dec. 23 re-open date. The cost for the project was approximately $1.4 million, according to the press release.

The riverbank had been stabilized and the road had been temporarily moved after the first time the riverbank collapsed two years ago in September 2008. This spring and summer, crews were working on a long-term stabilization of the riverbank when it collapsed again in June, and more severely in September, according to the press release.