West Palm Beach is making a major change to the way you drive — and enjoy — the downtown waterfront.

The city is planning to give back over 60,000 square feet of city space back to the public in a new project called “Flagler Shore: From Pavement to People.”

In just a few weeks, two lanes of traffic on the easternmost side of Flagler Drive will be shut down for five months. The lanes will be closed on a half mile stretch — from Lake Avenue to Banyan Boulevard — starting Oct. 7, 2017 through March 1, 2018. The westernmost lanes will be kept open to maintain a north to south flow of traffic.

“What this research has told us is that we need to test a design without spending a lot of money,” said Chris Roog, Director of Economic Development for West Palm Beach.

Roog said the project is a result of findings from studies done recently by the Gehl Institute, the Shore to Core design contest with the Van Alen Institute, and the walkability study by Jeff Speck.