Motorists trying to drive near the Atlanta Civic Center on Saturday will find several streets closed for the BET Hip-Hop Awards, and that has at least one nearby business owner upset.

Atlanta police spokesman Ron Campbell said all lanes of Piedmont Avenue from Ralph McGill Boulevard north to Pine Street, all lanes of Ralph McGill Boulevard from Courtland Street east to Central Park Place, all lanes of Pine Street from Courtland Street to Central Park Place and all lanes of Currier Street from Courtland Street to Piedmont Avenue will be closed from noon until midnight on Saturday.

The sidewalks along those streets will also be closed, Campbell said.

Rufus Terrill, owner of O'Terrill's Irish Pub on Piedmont Avenue, said he expects the closings to heavily affect his business, since motorists will not be able to reach his parking lot.

While O'Terrill's is just north of the restricted zone, the closing of Pine Street to the south means there will be no access to Terrill's stretch of Piedmont, which is one-way going north.

Terrill said he met with city officials and representatives from BET Wednesday night, "and essentially, BET just blew me off. They said it's not their concern."

He said he was assured at the meeting that his customers would be allowed through the roadblocks, but he's worried that if traffic is backed up by the closed streets, customers will give up.

Terrill said that in the three years since he opened his pub, he doesn't recall such drastic road closings for any other Civic Center event.

Campbell, the police spokesman, cited security as the reason for the street - and sidewalk - closings.

"I guess that the security [for the awards show], they don't want anyone around there," Campbell said. "I don't know if they're figuring there's going to be some problems, but they're cutting it off before it starts."