Brighton's main street is back open for business
BRIGHTON, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - After being closed off for a year for infrastructure improvements, Brighton's main street downtown is back open.
"Oh, it is so wonderful to have the street open," said Barbara Teubert, the owner of A Gathered Collection.
"Oh my gosh, the street opening is great. It's been a long time coming," said Lisa Nelson the owner of Hush.
"We're excited now for the foot traffic to start up again with our new widened sidewalks," said Corrie Gizicki the owner of Dog Watch.
Back in January this year, the city of Brighton began a major improvement project on the main street. Officials said they narrowed the street to slow down traffic, widened the sidewalks, and replaced the outdoor lights to make for a better pedestrian experience.
"The last time that this street had been renovated was 100 years ago, so to see this, we know it was painful, but the beautiful thing is that this should last another 100 years," said Denise Murray, who serves as the economic development coordinator for Brighton.
The street closure was tough on the downtown businesses, it was difficult to park, and nearly impossible to walk the street, but today, business owners are really excited to see the changes.
"Lots of foot traffic. I'm really looking forward to that, and I think people will," Nelson said. "Yes, we've opened a little bit, but we closed another section, and people are getting back downtown, which I absolutely love, but I think once everything is open, it's going to be like gangbusters around here."