On Saturday night, Congress Street gets its first real test as a street built for people on foot. From 5 p.m. on Halloween until 3 a.m. Sunday, the four blocks of Congress between Toole Avenue and just west of Scott Avenue will be closed to vehicles. The City of Tucson's announcement says the pilot comes "after more than a decade of conversation and planning."
What sets this closure apart is its purpose. Downtown closes streets every fall for processions, bike rides and festivals. This one is a test the city plans to learn from, and its results could shape what Congress looks like on an ordinary weekday. Two more closures follow within three weeks, and they make a useful comparison.
What Changes on Congress at 5 p.m. Saturday
The closure covers roughly four blocks of downtown's entertainment district. The city says restaurants, bars, entertainment venues and cultural spaces in and around the area will stay open and reachable all night. The work is shared among the city, the Downtown Tucson Partnership, Pima County, downtown businesses and public safety partners. Tucson Police and Tucson Fire will keep emergency access open.
The biggest change starts early. Park Tucson begins hooding the parking meters on Congress at 10 a.m. Saturday to clear parked cars before the barriers go up, so a car left on Congress for a lunch errand that day is likely to be in the way.
Here's how getting around works that night, according to the city:
- Driving around downtown: Take the Maclovio-Barraza downtown bypass.
- Streets that stay open: Scott Avenue stays open, and so does eastbound Broadway.
- Streetcar: Sun Link keeps running.
- Buses: Ronstadt Transit Center stays open, with Sun Tran access off Toole Avenue.
- Rideshare: Four rideshare access points are marked on the city's closure map.
- Parking: The same map shows nearby garages and surface lots. Park Tucson has more parking information.
The city's map is worth opening before you head out. It's the only place that shows the four rideshare points and the garage options. The Downtown Tucson Partnership also keeps a Halloween night activities page for what's happening along the street.
Why the Bypass Was What Made This Possible
The city calls the idea years old and says several things had to be in place first. The biggest was finishing Downtown Links, the road project that gives traffic a way around downtown instead of straight through it. Before that route existed, closing Congress on a busy night meant pushing through traffic onto streets with nowhere to send it. Now the bypass handles the cars that would otherwise cut through Congress.
The rest of the work was groundwork. Late-night businesses weighed in on how a closure would affect their staff and customers. New ride-hailing and taxi drop-off zones were set up. Crystal Moore, president and CEO of the Downtown Tucson Partnership, told the city that "our nighttime merchants have been instrumental in this effort."
The night they picked is about as busy as downtown gets. The city's release cites the location analytics firm Placer.ai, which estimated about 24,000 people visited downtown Tucson on Halloween evening in 2025. Halloween lands on a Saturday this year, and organizers expect another crowded weekend. A pilot run on a quiet Tuesday wouldn't tell the city much. Running it on the night with the most people on foot tests the idea under real pressure.
Eight Days Later, the Closed Streets Move West
The All Souls Procession has been Tucson's best-known car-free night for decades. Its 37th edition takes over the west side the weekend after Halloween. The All Souls Procession guide says walkers gather on Grande Avenue south of Speedway Boulevard at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, and step off at 6 p.m. The route heads south on Grande, roughly parallel to the Santa Cruz River, turns left onto Congress and ends in the Mercado District.
The route is the same as in 2025. Organizers say neighbors approved it and invite people living in Barrio Hollywood, Menlo, Mercado or Sin Nombre to come to a planning meeting or get in touch directly. That neighbor-approved route has given All Souls decades of practice at the kind of arrangement Congress Street is trying out for the first time.
The procession is the high point of a weekend that starts days earlier:
| Date | Event | Where and when |
|---|---|---|
| Wed., Nov. 4 | Community workshop with SORNE | Solar Culture Gallery, 191 E. Toole Ave., 6 p.m. |
| Fri., Nov. 6 | Dance of the Dead, Night One, with a cacao ceremony, soundbath and SORNE | MSA Annex Festival Grounds; time and details still to be announced |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Procession of Little Angels, free | Literacy Connects, 200 E. Yavapai Rd., 3 to 7 p.m. |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Flow for the Soul, All Souls Edition | MSA Annex, 267 S. Avenida del Convento, 7 p.m. to midnight |
| Sun., Nov. 8 | Procession assembles and departs | Grande Ave. south of Speedway, 4 p.m. gathering, 6 p.m. departure |
| Sun., Nov. 8 | Vendor Village, Circo Domo, Finale Ceremony | Mercado District; Vendor Village 4 to 10 p.m., Circo Domo 7:30 p.m., Finale 8 p.m. |
Saturday's Procession of Little Angels is the family version. It offers children's art, a family procession, performances, pop-up altars and urn offerings, and it takes place across town from the Sunday crowds. The free Community Altar, a public ofrenda, will stand at the main entrance of MSA Annex on Avenida del Convento. Its dedication date hasn't been announced yet.
Getting to All Souls works a lot like getting downtown on Halloween. Organizers suggest Sun Tran Route 22, which runs extra Sunday service to the Grande Avenue Gateway, and Sun Link, which is free all day Sunday. You can also park downtown and walk. Rideshare pickup points are at Grande and Congress near Chaiteria, at Cushing and Grande beside Caterpillar, and at the Ramada Hotel near the freeway. Organizers ask one thing of everyone. Keep the entrance to the Finale site clear at Congress and Avenida del Convento.
El Tour Turns the Closures Into a Morning Event
Two weeks later the timing flips. El Tour de Tucson on Saturday, Nov. 21, closes streets from before sunrise, and most of the downtown closures lift by early afternoon. Every ride starts and finishes at the Tucson Convention Center. The Expo & Fiesta fills the renovated convention center and its grounds from Nov. 19 to 21, with food, exhibitors, live music and an outdoor beer garden.
The El Tour schedule staggers the starts:
- 102-mile ride at 7 a.m. for Platinum and Elite riders, then 7:05 a.m. for general riders
- 5K at 7:15 a.m.
- 1- and 3-mile fun rides at 8:15 a.m.
- 62-mile ride at 9 a.m.
- 32-mile ride at 10 a.m.
All routes close at 4:30 p.m.
KOLD's list of El Tour closures shows the downtown and central neighborhoods affected most in the early hours. Fourth Avenue from 15th Street to Broadway, 15th Street from Stone to Fourth Avenue, and Sixth Avenue from Stone to 15th Avenue all close from 4 to 11:30 a.m. Stone Avenue from 6th Avenue and 18th Street to 14th Avenue closes from 4 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Cushing Street from Stone to El Paso Avenue stays closed from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., the longest closure in the downtown area. Broadway Boulevard and Kino Parkway stay open in both directions. After 9:30 a.m., you can reach Barrio Viejo businesses on Park Avenue from 22nd Street or the northbound I-10 frontage road from 22nd Street. El Tour says final route permissions were still in progress, so check the closures again the week of the ride.
What Saturday Night Is Actually Testing
All Souls and El Tour close streets for one event, then open them again. The city frames the Halloween closure differently. Its stated goal is to watch how pedestrians, vehicles and transit interact on one of downtown's busiest nights and use what it learns to decide next steps, including "the possibility of a future daytime pedestrian program."
Ward 6 Council Member Miranda Schubert said the same in the city's announcement. She's excited "about what we'll learn at night and how those lessons could help us explore a daytime pilot." Mayor Regina Romero called the pilot "an opportunity to support our local businesses, prioritize pedestrian safety, and learn what can help our downtown continue to thrive."
The block itself keeps changing too. Tucson Foodie reports that Pueblo Vida Brewing plans to move its taproom from 115 E. Broadway to 121 E. Broadway, next door, in late fall 2026. The original room will become a private-event space, and a new shared-space restaurant is planned for early 2027.
That makes Halloween the first of three fall weekends when parts of Tucson's core run with far fewer cars. The first is Congress at night, the second is Grande and the Mercado on Sunday evening, and the third is the streets around the convention center on a Saturday morning. Only the first one is being studied to decide whether it happens again on an ordinary day.
If downtown Tucson's walkable future is part of your own thinking about home, whether you want to be close to Congress or the Mercado or just want to understand how the core is changing, Laurie is always happy to talk it through. Holiday Homes Family follows these changes closely because they shape daily life across Tucson. Contact Laurie to Get Started.
