Veteran business owner Liz Toussaint has spent the past 19 years running a flower shop in the quickly growing Gungahlin town centre, watching it change from a rural area to busy local hub.
When she first opened her Poetry in Flowers store, she says Gungahlin was "mostly sheep paddocks and not much else".
Tending to her succulents and pruning roses on Friday, locals stopped into her Gungahlin Market Place store to say hello.
The area is set to see more change in coming months as the ACT government turns nearby Hibberson Street into a one-way shared road for cars and pedestrians, part of a $3 million suite of roadworks and improvements.
"It was pretty small here, there were very few people and very few services," she said.
"Now there's a lot of other stores coming in like Coles and Woolworths in a lot of different places around the area."
Ms Toussaint said she supported the development happening around Gungahlin ahead of tram services getting under way from 2018.
The change is certainly not the first she has seen.
Hibberson Street is already a key transport link for the area, with the Market Place functioning on both sides of the road.
Ms Toussaint said customers choose to "shop at one side or the other" and hopes the city tramline will have a positive impact on her business, acknowledging construction sites do come with issues.
"This last lot of development has meant that traffic in the whole Gungahlin area has dropped away, because we've seen drops in customers on both sides," she said.
By June 18 next year, Hibberson Street will operate as a 20km one-way street heading west, with the plan to see 80 per cent fewer cars.
Road users will share the zone with pedestrians, like the existing Bunda Street shareway in the centre of Canberra. On weekends and public holidays Hibberson Street will be completely shut off from cars, giving pedestrians full rein.
Transport and City Services Minister, Meegan Fitzharris, said the plan is what the local businesses wanted for the area, providing flexibility and a safe, pedestrian-dominated zone.
"Moving 80 per cent of the traffic strikes the right balance between what is really clear what the community want, which is a really a safe zone that pedestrians rule, as well as allowing some access for motor vehicles," she said.
"As well as delivery trucks to access this street, we know that it is really important particularly in the morning when they're getting their deliveries and early in the morning when there's a lot of tradies coming in to pick up their coffee before their shift.
"Being able to access this road makes sure that local businesses that are open in the morning can have people come in early and don't see the effects in a major way," Ms Fitzharris said.