MINOT – Martha Verrill was the first to cross the new Route 119 bridge Wednesday afternoon, ending the parade of commuters, deliverymen, loggers and motorcyclists detouring across her farmland since September.

“She’s going to be the first one for the simple fact that she’s put up with a lot during all this,” said Tim Cusick, highway maintenance superintendent for the Maine Department of Transportation. “She’s been very good to us, and the construction supervisor out there thought that was just the right thing to do.”

The bridge, which opened at 4 p.m., had been closed since Aug. 16 when torrential rain and flash flooding destroyed much of the road, requiring the replacement of a large box culvert and reconstruction of the road. At the time, the National Weather Service in Gray reported 5 inches of rain fell in less than two hours.

The bridge is south of the intersection with Route 124.

Verrill said she “likes being a good neighbor,” but she’s eager to see the end of the backyard traffic. She said she often wondered, “My God, will this ever end?” as word spread of her single-lane shortcut, estimated to save motorists about 20 minutes by avoiding the detour.

Just days after Verrill opened her “cart road,” she said, “We’ve had firetrucks, tow trucks and all sorts of emergency vehicles. We’ve had delivery trucks, UPS and DHL, and logging trucks all go by.” And in September, there was a parade of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Hers was one of a number of shortcuts established by locals in the weeks following the Aug. 16 damage.

As the bridge was reopened, Cusick thanked residents and motorists for dealing with the inconvenience.

“It’s been a long haul, and the public has been patient and understanding while we got this job done,” he said.

Work on the culvert and road is substantially complete, but there will be some finish work and cleanup in the coming weeks, which may require one-way traffic for short periods, according to MDOT.

The town of Minot is expected to receive $77,000 of an estimated $2.9 million in federal assistance for disaster relief granted for Androscoggin, Cumberland and York counties in the aftermath of the August storm.