BARRIE, ONT. -- Construction crews have spent the past 15 months working on the Dunlop Street project in downtown Barrie.

The highly-anticipated $15.7 million project includes upgrades and improvements from one end of the downtown core to the other.

Now, the finishing touches are the lights at Five Points.

"We are just waiting on the activation of the traffic signals," says City of Barrie's Julia Van Der Kuylen. "The fencing is up for safety reasons. We don't want traffic going through there until the street lights are activated."

John McNabb has owned John McNabb Clothier on Dunlop Street since the early '90s and says he's been anxiously waiting for the fencing to be removed. "Hopefully, we see some traffic going by here in the next few days."

The project has been a massive undertaking for the city and a significant investment designed to attract people to the downtown.

"We renewed some of the city's existing infrastructure. We replaced all of the surface works, so from building face to building face, including new interlock concrete sidewalks, parking pads, a new road," Van Der Kuylen says.

Officials with the city anticipate having traffic flowing by mid-week.