Chattanooga's 4-year-old bike-share system is capitalizing on new residential development and a lengthened Tennessee Riverwalk.
Four new Bike Chattanooga rental stations opened last month, bringing the total number of stations to 37.
Local nonprofit and foundation leaders gathered last Thursday off Amnicola Highway at the Riverwalk's Curtain Pole Road entrance for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at one of the new stations.
Two other new stations are along a new 3-mile stretch of the Tennessee Riverwalk that opened this year, and another is next to the new Douglas Heights apartment building at M.L. King Boulevard and University Street.
The first station on the new section of Riverwalk is at the Blue Goose Hollow trailhead adjacent to the Cameron Harbor home and apartment development. The second is next to the old Wheland Foundry site, farther south on the new section of multi-use path that connects Ross's Landing to Middle Street in the South Broad district.
"The one at Blue Goose Hollow was more about the residents there," city assistant transportation engineer Ben Taylor said. "There are new apartments there, a bunch of houses, and those folks were contacting us about a station. It just so happened the new section of the Riverwalk was opening up there, so that's a perfect setup."
Taylor said the Wheland Foundry location can serve residents of the new homes being built in the South Broad district.
Friends of Outdoor Chattanooga, the Lyndhurst Foundation and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee Health Foundation funded the new stations.
More than 25,000 people use the bike-share program each year, according to a city news release.
"Bike share usage has gone up 28 percent since bike lanes were added to Broad Street, so we know that these facilities have a positive effect on creating more options for how people get around," the news release said. "We are looking forward to providing more stations as opportunities for Chattanoogans to bike into town, or at least park once and bike between destinations."
Five locations were considered for the new bike stations. The station that transportation officials decided not to build would have been on the Riverwalk near the South Chickamauga Creek greenway, Taylor said.