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A written bomb threat led Virginia Tech to evacuate a 100,000-square-foot building, cancel the classes within it, and close a major gateway to the campus for much of Monday.

Torgersen Hall will remain closed and under observation by authorities, but "the tape has come down [and] the roads are open again," university spokesman Larry Hincker said shortly before 6 p.m.

Tech's police department continues to investigate, he said. The building is expected to reopen at 7 a.m. today.

The threat was reported about 1:20 p.m. and the decision to evacuate came a little less than half an hour later, Hincker said. The Alumni Mall, a major gateway to Tech, was closed as the building was searched by bomb-sniffing dogs from Dublin, Roanoke and state police.

Hincker, who has been at Tech two decades, said the only comparable bomb threat he can remember was in October 2001, when a fake device was found in Newman Library.

-- Albert Raboteau