More than 250 bicycle parking spaces were recently added to the Blacksburg campus bringing the total of available spaces to nearly 4,000.

Sixty of the new spaces were added with the installation of a new bike parking hub outside of Pamplin Hall. The hub is the first large scale bicycle parking area built on campus. It has six racks with five bike loops, with each loop holding two bikes.

Additional bike racks were installed outside of Dietrick, McBryde, Payne, Pritchard, Randolph and Slusher halls and the Graduate Life Center at Donaldson-Brown.

The university also increased the number of covered bike racks, installing two outside of Squires Student Center and one outside of the Graduate Life Center.

The total cost for installing the new bike racks was $42,000 with much of the funding coming from the Green RFP program. The program, which is managed by the Office of Energy and Sustainability, funds student proposed sustainability projects. Nearly $13,000 of the funding came from revenue generated by the Bike, Bus, and Walk program.

Other recent bicycle infrastructure improvements include the extension of the Huckleberry Trail from the Route 460 tunnel to the trails near Plantation Drive, and the installation of repair stations outside of Dietrick and Randolph halls and the Graduate Life Center. In addition, the Hokie Bike Hub, located in the Perry Street parking garage, offers tools and equipment for more extensive bike repair and maintenance. It offers workshops and one-on-one bicycle education sessions as well.

According to the Alternative Transportation Office, 55 percent of the campus population uses alternative transportation, such as bicycles, to commute to and from campus. One of the goals of the Virginia Tech Climate Action Commitment and Sustainability Plan is to increase that percentage.