KERNERSVILLE, N.C. -- After four months of a North Main Street barricaded by piles of dirt, downtown Kernersville held a grand re-opening Saturday.

Since last June, the main drag through town was barricaded. Businesses like "Love that Music" missed out on vital passerby traffic due to a nearly $1.7 million streetscape project.

"A lot of people wouldn't come downtown because of the parking situation," said “Love that Music” owner Sandi Love.

But in talking about the project, board member of the Kernersville Downtown Preservation and Development Council, Reanza Murray, says, "We wanted to make it a quaint downtown."

Murray adds that the project was well overdue and was first designed to just replace some 100-year-old sewer lines.

"They had to go down around 6-8 feet to get down below the original bed," Murray explained.

But public works officials later decided to do a little extra. Sidewalks were redone, tree and shrub gutters were installed, and some power lines were moved from overhead businesses to the back of the businesses.

"Old signage got taken down so that we got a cleaner view," Murray added.

Officials with the preservation organization say they will now work to get some new businesses and shops into some of the empty buildings in downtown.

While workers were replacing the sewer lines, they found a portion of North Main Street from when it was a cobblestone road. It's now on exhibit in front of the Main Street Baptist Church.