diff --git a/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/bigtable_stub_factory.cc b/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/bigtable_stub_factory.cc
index 9d5add4a61c44..0be9bdfd08f13 100644
--- a/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/bigtable_stub_factory.cc
+++ b/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/bigtable_stub_factory.cc
@@ -20,12 +20,14 @@
 #include "google/cloud/bigtable/internal/bigtable_round_robin_decorator.h"
 #include "google/cloud/bigtable/internal/bigtable_tracing_stub.h"
 #include "google/cloud/bigtable/internal/connection_refresh_state.h"
+#include "google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults.h"
 #include "google/cloud/bigtable/options.h"
 #include "google/cloud/common_options.h"
 #include "google/cloud/grpc_options.h"
 #include "google/cloud/internal/algorithm.h"
 #include "google/cloud/internal/api_client_header.h"
 #include "google/cloud/internal/base64_transforms.h"
+#include "google/cloud/internal/getenv.h"
 #include "google/cloud/internal/opentelemetry.h"
 #include "google/cloud/internal/unified_grpc_credentials.h"
 #include "google/cloud/log.h"
@@ -47,17 +49,19 @@ std::shared_ptr<grpc::Channel> CreateGrpcChannel(
 }
 
 std::string FeaturesMetadata() {
-  static auto const* const kFeatures = new auto([] {
-    google::bigtable::v2::FeatureFlags proto;
-    proto.set_reverse_scans(true);
-    proto.set_last_scanned_row_responses(true);
-    proto.set_mutate_rows_rate_limit(true);
-    proto.set_mutate_rows_rate_limit2(true);
-    proto.set_routing_cookie(true);
-    proto.set_retry_info(true);
-    return internal::UrlsafeBase64Encode(proto.SerializeAsString());
-  }());
-  return *kFeatures;
+  google::bigtable::v2::FeatureFlags proto;
+  proto.set_reverse_scans(true);
+  proto.set_last_scanned_row_responses(true);
+  proto.set_mutate_rows_rate_limit(true);
+  proto.set_mutate_rows_rate_limit2(true);
+  proto.set_routing_cookie(true);
+  proto.set_retry_info(true);
+
+  if (bigtable::internal::EnableDirectAccess()) {
+    proto.set_traffic_director_enabled(true);
+    proto.set_direct_access_requested(true);
+  }
+  return internal::UrlsafeBase64Encode(proto.SerializeAsString());
 }
 
 }  // namespace
diff --git a/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults.cc b/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults.cc
index c7c1cd041ea86..163d0d7339a8c 100644
--- a/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults.cc
+++ b/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults.cc
@@ -144,6 +144,12 @@ Options HandleUniverseDomain(Options opts) {
   return opts;
 }
 
+bool EnableDirectAccess() {
+  absl::optional<std::string> env_directpath =
+    google::cloud::internal::GetEnv("CBT_ENABLE_DIRECTPATH");
+  return env_directpath.has_value() && env_directpath.value() == "true";
+}
+
 Options DefaultOptions(Options opts) {
   using ::google::cloud::internal::GetEnv;
   auto ud = GetEnv("GOOGLE_CLOUD_UNIVERSE_DOMAIN");
@@ -164,18 +170,13 @@ Options DefaultOptions(Options opts) {
     }
   }
 
-  auto const direct_path =
-      GetEnv("GOOGLE_CLOUD_ENABLE_DIRECT_PATH").value_or("");
-  if (absl::c_any_of(absl::StrSplit(direct_path, ','),
-                     [](absl::string_view v) { return v == "bigtable"; })) {
-    opts.set<DataEndpointOption>(
-            "google-c2p:///directpath-bigtable.googleapis.com")
-        .set<AuthorityOption>("directpath-bigtable.googleapis.com");
-
-    // When using DirectPath the gRPC library already does load balancing across
-    // multiple sockets, it makes little sense to perform additional load
-    // balancing in the client library.
-    if (!opts.has<GrpcNumChannelsOption>()) opts.set<GrpcNumChannelsOption>(1);
+  if (EnableDirectAccess()) {
+    std::string endpoint = opts.get<EndpointOption>();
+    if (endpoint.empty()) {
+      endpoint = "bigtable.googleapis.com";
+    }
+    opts.set<DataEndpointOption>("c2p:///" + endpoint)
+        .set<AuthorityOption>(endpoint);
   }
 
   auto emulator = GetEnv("BIGTABLE_EMULATOR_HOST");
diff --git a/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults.h b/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults.h
index 8b6a05719b40c..9c5e9102da24f 100644
--- a/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults.h
+++ b/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults.h
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ namespace internal {
 
 int DefaultConnectionPoolSize();
 
+bool EnableDirectAccess();
+
 /**
  * Returns an `Options` with the appropriate defaults for Bigtable.
  *
diff --git a/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults_test.cc b/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults_test.cc
index 19f666a323504..1978c84283e4e 100644
--- a/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults_test.cc
+++ b/google/cloud/bigtable/internal/defaults_test.cc
@@ -426,24 +426,20 @@ TEST(EndpointEnvTest, UserCredentialsOverrideEmulatorEnv) {
 
 TEST(EndpointEnvTest, DirectPathEnabled) {
   ScopedEnvironment emulator("BIGTABLE_EMULATOR_HOST", absl::nullopt);
-  ScopedEnvironment direct_path("GOOGLE_CLOUD_ENABLE_DIRECT_PATH",
-                                "storage,bigtable");
+  ScopedEnvironment direct_path("CBT_ENABLE_DIRECTPATH", "true");
 
   auto opts = DefaultOptions();
-  EXPECT_EQ("google-c2p:///directpath-bigtable.googleapis.com",
-            opts.get<DataEndpointOption>());
-  EXPECT_EQ("directpath-bigtable.googleapis.com", opts.get<AuthorityOption>());
+  EXPECT_EQ("c2p:///bigtable.googleapis.com", opts.get<DataEndpointOption>());
+  EXPECT_EQ("bigtable.googleapis.com", opts.get<AuthorityOption>());
   // Admin endpoints are not affected.
   EXPECT_EQ("bigtableadmin.googleapis.com", opts.get<AdminEndpointOption>());
   EXPECT_EQ("bigtableadmin.googleapis.com",
             opts.get<InstanceAdminEndpointOption>());
-  EXPECT_EQ(1, opts.get<GrpcNumChannelsOption>());
 }
 
-TEST(EndpointEnvTest, DirectPathNoMatch) {
+TEST(EndpointEnvTest, DirectPathNotEnabled) {
   ScopedEnvironment emulator("BIGTABLE_EMULATOR_HOST", absl::nullopt);
-  ScopedEnvironment direct_path("GOOGLE_CLOUD_ENABLE_DIRECT_PATH",
-                                "bigtable-not,almost-bigtable");
+  ScopedEnvironment direct_path("CBT_ENABLE_DIRECTPATH", "false");
 
   auto opts = DefaultDataOptions(Options{});
   EXPECT_EQ("bigtable.googleapis.com", opts.get<EndpointOption>());
@@ -452,18 +448,17 @@ TEST(EndpointEnvTest, DirectPathNoMatch) {
 
 TEST(EndpointEnvTest, DirectPathOverridesUserEndpoints) {
   ScopedEnvironment emulator("BIGTABLE_EMULATOR_HOST", absl::nullopt);
-  ScopedEnvironment direct_path("GOOGLE_CLOUD_ENABLE_DIRECT_PATH", "bigtable");
+  ScopedEnvironment direct_path("CBT_ENABLE_DIRECTPATH", "true");
 
   auto opts = DefaultDataOptions(
-      Options{}.set<EndpointOption>("ignored").set<AuthorityOption>("ignored"));
-  EXPECT_EQ("google-c2p:///directpath-bigtable.googleapis.com",
-            opts.get<EndpointOption>());
-  EXPECT_EQ("directpath-bigtable.googleapis.com", opts.get<AuthorityOption>());
+      Options{}.set<EndpointOption>("userendpoint").set<AuthorityOption>("userendpoint"));
+  EXPECT_EQ("c2p:///userendpoint", opts.get<EndpointOption>());
+  EXPECT_EQ("userendpoint", opts.get<AuthorityOption>());
 }
 
 TEST(EndpointEnvTest, EmulatorOverridesDirectPath) {
   ScopedEnvironment emulator("BIGTABLE_EMULATOR_HOST", "emulator-host:8000");
-  ScopedEnvironment direct_path("GOOGLE_CLOUD_ENABLE_DIRECT_PATH", "bigtable");
+  ScopedEnvironment direct_path("CBT_ENABLE_DIRECTPATH", "true");
 
   auto opts = DefaultDataOptions(Options{});
   EXPECT_EQ("emulator-host:8000", opts.get<EndpointOption>());