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03_V1_WAT_Dec07 give the gift of music this season 36 King St. N (519) 885-4215 waterloo@long-mcquade.com Shop online gift cards lessonsmusicalinstruments Best selection. Best price.Best selection. Best price.e. Holiday shopping made easy.Holiday shopping made easy. Family Owned & Operated with 30 Years Experience. - Hardwood - Engineered Hardwood - Laminate - Porcelain - Carpet - Tile & Stone - Resiliant Many brands, styles & colours to choose from! When Quality & Service MatterS Call for a free estimate & Visit our showroom today! 2-500 Bingemans Centre Dr. (across from Bingemans Park) 519-570-0008 • nealysflooring.com Mon. - Fri. 9:00am - 6:00pm, Sat. 10:00am - 4:00pm, Closed Sunday www.nealysflooring.com Th ursday, December 7, 2017 • WATERLOO CHRONICLE • 3Serving your community since 1856 CITY NEWS WATERLOO CHRONICLE CITY NEWSCITY NEWS WATERLOO CHRONICLE Open for business King Street streetscapes project � nally opens after countless construction delays in uptown core By Bob Vrbanac Chronicle Sta� Better late than never was the sentiment, and even though King Street wasn't reopened exactly on time last Friday night, traf- fic started moving again down the City of Waterloo's main street. In keeping with the delays that the project has faced since it started in the spring, the road was supposed to o� - cially be reopened at 5 p.m. but it was closer to 5:30 p.m. when all the con- struction barriers were removed and normal vehicular traffic returned to the uptown core. Watching with anticipation were Elise DuBois and Monika McKinley, manager of Capri Salon and Spa. "This puts a lot less pressure on our clients to be worried about tra� c and directions," said DuBois, who is a receptionist at Capri. "Some of our cli- ents have mobility challenges and now they have extra wide sidewalks and can get through our front door -- we don't have to worry about a wooden bridge to our front door. "� ere is a lot of relief for our clients as well as our sta� ." "We're excited about the future, and it does look really good," said McKinley. "It's given uptown Waterloo a literal facelift." Mayor Dave Jaworsky was on hand to take a horse drawn trolley ride to officially reopen King Street after almost two-and-a-half years of contin- uous construction. He said it was good to see the street open for tra� c again. "It's great to see the uptown open for business and great to see the brand new street and you get to see the build- ings and the shops as they were meant to be with the brand new streetscape." King Street has been reduced to two lanes through the city core, but in addition to widened sidewalks, that will lend themselves to patios next year, there is also segregated bike lanes and brand new lines that brought a new glow to the core. Jaworsky, who was on site through parts of the day, said it was good to see pedestrian traffic return with transit soon to follow and the Ion LRT coming through in the new year. "It will just make such a big di� er- ence for the uptown." Uptown Coun. Melissa Durrell was also celebrating another piece of news. While road construction will con- tinue on Regina and Albert Streets next year, there will be no full King Street closures in 2018 other than a few temporary closures to prepare for streetscape work that will continue in 2019. "� at probably the best Christmas gift I could ever get," said Durrell, who led a campaign to Let Uptown Breathe in 2018 so that normal tra� c patterns can be restored and some sense of nor- malcy return to the core after all the construction. "There's way more construction coming down the way, not to men- tion that King Street still needs to be completely � nished," said Durrell. "We just needed a break with all the things we have planned for the next � ve to 10 years." � ere is still some cosmetic work to complete on the reopened part of King Street, but much of that won't happen until the spring said Eric Saunderson, project manager with the Region of Waterloo's Transportation and Envi- ronmental Services department. The region still plans on moving utilities and other underground infra- structure on King Street past Bridge- port next year, but that work is being done in preparation for 2019. "It is our intent to proceed with certain aspects of the project, but we will be maintaining two way tra� c the entire time," said Saunderson. "We're still reviewing the details with the con- tractor but we're committed that the tra� c will be maintained." When it is all done, the streetscape project will extend all the way along King Street to University Avenue. BOB VRBANAC PHOTO