Walkers and bikers will have more area to cover thanks to a big donation that will expand the riverwalk trail system in Wausau.

Thursday, the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin announced the $1 million gift from the late Lawrence and Jane Sternberg Estate.

City of Wausau Mayor Jim Tipple expressed thanks at the press conference, held at the new Eye Clinic of Wisconsin building on N. 1st Street, which overlooks the Wisconsin River.

"We're very pleased with this. It's going to make our water resource that more productive. It's also going to close the loop on the trail we've been trying to develop for so many years," Tipple said.

The money will go toward further developing the Wisconsin River edge in the Wausau area, and specifically the downtown loop.

"This gift as I said gives us the where with all to start to realize the development of the downtown loop and all of the benefits that that brings to the many interests in the city," said Chairman Phil Valitchka of the Wausau River Edge Commission.

Valitchka says the completion of the riverwalk will create more public access, beauty, recreation and commercial development to the area.

He says eventually Wausau could become a hub of trails for central Wisconsin, connecting one community to another.