The lane reversals on downtown 5th Avenue will be expanded.

Since May, as a pilot project, lanes have been reversed between 7th Street S.W. and the west end of downtown to help ease the bottleneck of outbound traffic during rush hour.

According to the city, traffic counts show more than 840 vehicles used the reversed lanes between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. each weekday in late September, on average. Almost 470 of those vehicles were travelling between 4:20 p.m. and 5:20 p.m.

Based on those numbers, the city is expanding the pilot by two blocks, running from 5th Street S.W. to the west end of downtown. That section of the road will be two-way at all times except during the morning rush hour on weekdays, between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m.

The expanded pilot will start on Oct. 15. (CBC) The expanded trial will begin on Oct. 15.

"During the lane reversal trial we heard from citizens that a two-block extension would make westbound travel on 5th Avenue more convenient," traffic manager Ravi Seera said in a release.

"Allowing two-way traffic operations for most of the day will reduce congestion and provide better traffic circulation in the area using the city's existing infrastructure."

The pilot will be in place for six months and will then be assessed.

Motorists will be required to park facing westbound, on the north side of 5 Avenue S.W. between 5 Street S.W. and 10 Street S.W. at all times.