Singleton Council has announced that after six months of work on the Town Centre Revitalisation Project, John Street is expected to reopen to through traffic late on Saturday afternoon.

This event is an important milestone in the $11 million project, which started with the first section of John Street – near the Singleton Square shopping mall – closing to traffic on January 19.

Since that time, section by section John Street has been undergoing a major makeover.

Today, new asphalt wearing course will be laid in Stage 3, between Castlereagh and Pitt streets, and on Saturday morning the asphalt will be laid in the Hunter Street intersection.

Paving works will continue in the footpath in Stage 3 for a further two weeks with other close out works also continuing, however, no further road closures are anticipated.

Local retailers who spoke to The Argus were delighted to hear the traffic was coming back.

Gina Frazer, proprietor of Cervoz Café, said she can’t wait to see John Street opened and people coming back and enjoying the new facilities.

“I think it looks great already and it will be fantastic for our town; shoppers will come back because it will be a great place to visit and enjoy,” she said.

“Being negative gets you nowhere, so let’s get behind the project.”

Ms Frazer said one of the positives to come out of the revitalisation has been all the retailers coming together to work to improve business in John Street.

“We are relating to each other in a positive way, talking about what we can do to lift our businesses and improve our returns,” she said.

Neighbouring retailer Rebecca Clark, from Redbournberry Clothing Co, agreed with those sentiments, adding she was also looking forward to the “new” John Street.

She also praised the construction company Diona who she said carried out their work in a very professional manner.

Mrs Clark said she understood how some businesses had suffered during the construction work and she hoped the Singleton community would return now the work is almost completed and support John Street retailers.

One of the businesses badly affected during the construction work was The Chicken Spot with owner Gayle Thompson saying turnover was down 50 per cent.

“And, that won’t pick up overnight; it could take our business 12-24 months to recover,” she said.

However, like everyone else in John Street, she is pleased that through traffic will return on Saturday.

Mrs Thompson’s main concern now is how traffic flow will be managed and how fewer car parks in John Street will affect her and other similar businesses.

"We may be looking at a one way street in the future, " Mrs Thompson said.