WATERLOO — The acrid smell of hot asphalt hung in mid-air, mixing with a cold November drizzle.

Power saws cut into concrete while steam rollers of all sizes flattened at will. Cyclists swerved around pedestrians on the fenced-off sidewalk track for nimble shoppers.

This was not any Wednesday afternoon in uptown Waterloo during 10 months of light rail construction.

This was the final afternoon before King Street, between Erb and William, was to reopen to two-way traffic before December arrived. All of the sidewalks would soon be free and clear for holiday shoppers.

The worst was surely over for businesses and loyal shoppers, right?

"I love uptown Waterloo," Marci Matejcek said as she prepared for Thursday's opening of her Uptown Beauty Lounge near the frenzied corner of King and Erb.

"I just think it's very beautiful when there's not construction. I think it's going to be great when the roads are opened again."

This is where Matejcek wants her full-service spa and blow-dry bar to be. She has a new lease in this space, vacated by a swimsuit shop only a few months ago. The store was making ends meet, she said, but the owner wanted to retire.

Now, Matejcek is moving in as many of the construction bobcats and a few port-a-potties move out.

The potential unpredictability of such a massive project — which saw 1,500 metres of new underground pipe, 3,500 square metres of sidewalk, 340 metres of LRT track and 36 footings for the overhead catenary system installed — didn't make her blink as she claimed this prime location.

"Main drag," she said. "You can't get any better than that."

A few steps down from her shop, Beverly Harris and her dog Briar — named after her grandfather — were preparing to stroll into a jewelry store.

Harris, 59, carried a green shopping basket in one hand and held onto her dog's leash with the other. Her flat-coated retriever was unfrazzled by all the commotion of the construction zone they've often shopped in over the past year.

After all, they live within dog-walking distance of the uptown.

"It's just great to see progress on the LRT. It's a good thing for this community," said Harris, a lawyer and former chair of the Wilfrid Laurier University board of governors.

"Construction was so tough on people. And a lot of people abandoned ship. But I think those that have been able to make it through this construction are going to reap the rewards of having an LRT going downtown. I'm a huge fan."

Further down King Street at Words Worth Books, co-owner David Worsley was relieved that the "cloud of unknowing" was lifting for uptown businesses.

"We made it through," said Worsley, who has a staff of eight.

"And we didn't cut anybody's hours."

But on either side of the book shop are empty store fronts. A little bake shop that was open only a week ago was dark and quiet.

"There's a reason why places on either side of us are empty," said Worsely, who recently signed a new five-year lease for his shop at terms set before the construction.

"It's got nothing to do with LRT per se. It has everything to do with the cost of commercial rent as a result of the LRT. The landlords — and, you know, I'm not singling anybody out — the landlords that are now thinking, 'Well, you know, my little place is worth 32 bucks a square foot.' Overnight, it's now going to be forty because that's how development and commercial real estate work."

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So higher rents may be left behind in this rebuilt uptown stretch.

But at least the odour of the steaming asphalt would soon leave, along with the army of construction workers chiseling away to finish the streetscape on Wednesday.

"If they can replace it with potpourri, they can do whatever the hell they want," Worsley said.