(WSBT) Now that the holiday season is here it may actually be easier to drive to one of the area's busy shopping spots on the south side of South Bend.

Cathy Henry has a Good Question: When will the road construction on Michigan Street and Ireland Road be finished?

As WSBT's Kirk Mason explains, for the most part, it already is.

A lot has changed on South Bend's south side over the last few months. Except for some landscaping issues construction is done on Michigan Street. The road is now rebuilt.

Angelos Demtriou is now hoping to rebuild his customer base. Construction had run right in front of his restaurant.

“But still we're waiting for our customers to return back, because some of them probably don't know the road is open,” Demtriou said.

The road work is another piece to South Bend's puzzle for revitalizing the south side. Some had grown tired of waiting for the work to get done — the road had been under construction since March.

“They'd have flaggers out and one of them would tell you to go one way, and the other one would tell you to go the other way,” said Susie O’Connor, who works in the area. “It was kind of like taking your life into your own hands. It was a nightmare.”

The work needed to get done because construction season is ending, and the timing is very good with the holiday shopping season now underway.

Parts of Michigan Street are five lanes with a center turn lane. Other parts are now up to six and seven lanes, with double left turn lanes.