SAN ANTONIO (May 25, 2009)--For decades, the San Antonio River north of the popular downtown River Walk was overgrown and blighted, but not anymore.

A $72 million project has effectively doubled the size of the River Walk and in doing so, it transformed a dry, weed-choked eyesore north of the River Walk into a 1½-mile manicured waterway.

The so-called museum reach of the River Walk opens May 30 and connects visitors from the busy convention center and Alamo area to the San Antonio Museum of Art and the Pearl Brewery retail project.

Beyond that, this fall, a path will allow pedestrians and cyclists to keep going north along the river to Brackenridge Park, home of the Witte Museum and the zoo.

The River Walk is already the most popular tourist attraction in Texas, just ahead of the nearby Alamo, but beyond the River Walk, much of the other 11 miles of riverbed had been neglected over the years.