After work hours, downtown Midland empties out at 10 p.m. one recent night not a single pedestrian walked on Wall Street, the business district's main artery.
Mr Hughes said the High Street during the daytime was meant to be a designated "pedestrian zone" but traffic was using the street at all hours by some drivers abusing the system because of the broken bollards.
The event will present a temporary extra challenge for drivers: Apedestrian plaza already keeps vehicles from traveling on the avenue between West 47th Street and West 42nd Street.