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Rio Vista Ferry & CalTrans
Updates Rio
Vista (Real McCoy II) not working!
February 10, 2012. Thanks to
the good article in the River News Herold this week, some interesting
items have come to light. You see, the first Real McCoy Ferry was
sold
and we were told it went to "scrap metal". Turns out it was
actually updated and repaired, and was put back into service and is
available for CALTRANS to lease until
the new ferry gets fixed. Common sense would say that the
company that built the not-working Real McCoy Ferry II would pay for the
lease costs incurred by CalTrans to lease
the Real McCoy 1 until such time as the new ferry is fixed. So
what is the holdup? Here's some photos and an email I
received when I asked if its available for lease to
CalTrans. The ferry is over by Mare island area and the owner says
it would take just 6 hours to get back up to the Delta and be put in
service! Maybe this is the reason
CALTRANS did not communicate with the River News Herald reporter?
Or maybe CALTRANS just doesn't want people in the Delta to see all the
conveyance construction
going on right now? Or maybe CALTRANS will lease the
Real McCoy 1 for use between Rio Vista and Ryer Island, and the Real
McCoy Ferry II will be used at the location
it was designed for which could be up by Liberty Island given the
SAFCA
plans?
12/29/2011 Still no news about
when/if the Rio Vista Ferry will start working again. Also note
that CALTRANS finished painting the Steamboat Slough bridge so that is
open to travel. The J-Mac ferry cable was replaced and is working
fine but people with large RV's still need to drive around to the bridge
onto Ryer Island to get to
Snug Harbor. Your telephone GPS may not work so well in the Delta
in some areas, and Google does not provide island names and smaller
roads of the Delta,
so please print .... our map
Map in
JPGWordPDF forma
10/6/2011 & updated 10/26/2011: Reminder!
Those who are coming to stay at Snug Harbor need to use
the J-Mac Ferry (St. Rt. 220) off Hwy 160 at Ryde north of Isleton,
south of Walnut Grove, or use the bridge route to Ryer Island. If
you are driving an RV, just plan to use the bridge route. Please
print out and use our map and some GPS and online map services send you
to all the wrong places in the Delta in the past! On A
more positive
note: Google has finally corrected their map (we've been asking for a
correction since 2005) but Google will still send you around the long
way or get you lost in the Walnut Grove area due to detour signs.
September & October 2011:
TV
Channels
5 and 10 have done short focus news videos of the broken new ferry.
The problem with the news stories is that it appears the lack of a ferry
between Rio Vista and Ryer Island "only" affects 400 Ryer Island
residents. What about the 100 or more families that might be
visiting Snug Harbor on a holiday week end in summer who have to drive
around to the bridge onto Ryer Island, which can take up to 35 minutes
longer if you are traveling from the SF bay area. What about the
over 100 families who have sailboats moored at Hidden Harbor on Ryer
Island, who also need to drive around to get to their boats? What
about the complete stoppage of all Hwy 12 traffic in the Delta when
there is an accident that closes use of the Rio Vista bridge for
hours...the only other access across the delta was via the Real McCoy
Ferry and use of routes 84 and 220. Maybe CalTrans is trying to
get Delta local and tourist traffic to use route 160 more instead, to
validate the designation of 160 as a historic sceenic highway in the
Feinstein-backed Delta National Heritage Area plan? People
interested in the long term plans for Delta travel might want to
double-click on the map to the right for more information,
or go to the CalTrans
http://www.arb.ca.gov/gmp/docs/gmap-1-11-07.pdf for an example.
starting
on September
15, 2011 CalTrans
says the new Real McCoy Ferry (II) will only run for emergency vehicles
effective today. Do lemon laws apply to states that buy equipment
from boating manufacturers? Use the Hwy 12 to 160 to St. Rt 220
across Grand Island to get to the J-Mac Ferry instead. If towing
an RV, go to Walnut Grove, drive up the EAST side of the Sacramento
River along 160 to the Paintersville Bridge one mile below Courtland,
turn left onto the Paintersville Bridge to cross the Sacramento River,
then turn right and go up about one mile. Across the Sacramento
River (on your right) you will see the Courtland Market and docks of
Courtland. This will tell you to look for Courtland Road to turn
LEFT and follow Courtland to Ryer Road, at least 5-6 miles going WEST.
Then you will vere left onto Ryer Road, which will take you to the
Miner's Slough bridge onto Ryer Island. Turn left to come down to
Snug Harbor, about 7.5 miles. If you are coming from Sacramento
Area, use the Jefferson Blvd. exit in West Sacramento (off the Bus 80/50
Freeway) and follow Jefferson into the heart of the Delta.
Jefferson will end at Courtland Road. Turn right and follow west
along Courtland Road until it veres right onto Ryer Road...see above
directions to the bridge onto Ryer Island.
Click on the thumbnails to see a few of the documents related to the new Real McCoy II ferry
and Ryer Island access
(see details below)
Questions? Complaints? Caltrans contact:
Traci Ruth Office Chief, Office of
Public Affairs
Caltrans District 4 510.286.6120510.715.6730
I wonder if PGE/Google knew of the bridge closures before the rest of us
were told? In August, PGE/Google started displaying the following
map online...notice the missing bridge for Sutter Slough!
The problem with the notice is that it looked like there were no other
roads in this area of the Delta that people could use as an alternative
route. 9/4/2011 we emailed a request to CalTrans District 3 and 4 to correct the map
and to also not start the work until they can provide a reliable
alternate route, since the Real McCoy Ferry continues to break more
often than it works. Does the "lemmon law" apply to purchase
CalTrans makes with boat/ferry manufacturers?
Many Delta folks are saying this is another example of how the
state is trying to keep people out of the Delta while the state marches
forward with their water diversion plans to expand use of the Delta
Cross Channel to divert more Sacramento River water to the south Delta
pumps. Perhaps CalTrans is trying to get more people to travel 160 to
validate its listing on the National Register for Historical places?
The 2010 Caltrans road use study indicated a preference for St Rt. 84.
By eliminating the use of St. Rt 84 for a while, there will be more
local and tourist traffic on 160, no doubt.
May 31, 2011 CalTrans is still putting lives at risk by
detouring traffic onto unpaved levee roads for no reason at all; detour
route is 28 miles of unnecessary travel starting from a point where the
road sign says 6 miles to Ryer Island at Jefferson and Courtland
intersection.
Several
years ago, CalTrans decided to replace the Rio Vista Ferry, the oldest
running equipment of Caltrans, purported to be in service at least 65
years. Since the ferry transports traffic across the Sacramento
Ship Channel to Ryer Island, where those going to Sacramento can
continue on up St. Route 84, its very important that the ferry be a
reliable transportation resource not just for Ryer Island residents but
for all of the Delta. The only other route across the Delta to the
east is Hwy 12 and if the Rio Vista bridge is opened or blocked, the
traffice on Hwy 12 can back up. Usinge St. Route 84 and the Rio
Vista Ferry has been the alternate route when needed for the last 65
years.
And then CalTrans redesigned the ferry to make it
unuseable by large farming equipment, large trucks, families pulling
RVs...all the uses of the past. Now only vehicle and trucks
pulling boats can drive onto this larger ferry because of the poor
design of the ramp area.
Ferry documents:
Cache_Slough_Contract_see_page_94.pdf
Addendum_2-ferrydraft.pdf
Invite_For_Bid_57178.pdf
What is worse, the new ferry went into service in
February 2011 and has been broken more times in the last 2 months than
the old ferry was down in the last 2 years for repairs! CalTrans
blames it on the design, the builder, the engine builder, the
hydraulics...etc, etc, etc.
To help folks who plan to come to Ryer Island or Snug
Harbor, we will update this page each time we get notice from CalTrans
that there is a problem with the ferry, providing you with a copy of the
notice we get. The most receint ferry status will be highlighted
in yellow. In the meantime, we suggest you travel with one of the
following along in case you have to you one of the alternate routes to
get to us. North
Delta Region PDF Map
& Directions from Sacramento-bridge route
Caltrans says both ferrys are up and running and no more downtime is
expected
6-3-2011
6-2-2011
6-1-2011
NSS contacted CalTrans spokesperson to request that all the misleading
"detour" signs on Jefferson Blvd, Courtland Road, Ryer Road, etc be
removed or cover, as was promised by CalTrans. We video'd the
route on top of dirt levee roads that CalTrans sent many families in
large RV's at night on a holiday week end. A formal complaint will
be filed this week with the state. Map of detour route andfull video to be posted at CalTrans Detours cause Risk
but in the meantime see the short video sample above posted to Youtube.
Initial complaint letter sent.
May 28 & May 31
click or double-click to see CalTrans communications confirming the
detour signs would be covered for Memorial Day week end:
May 27, 2011
CalTrans spokesperson says Ferry is running and there are no detours on
St. Rt. 84 planned for Saturday thru Monday. They later emailed that
there would be no detours and any signs would be covered.
Miner's Slough bridge IS OPEN!
CalTrans has been doing work on St. Route 84 to the Miners Slough bridge
so they have been rerouting travelers up to the bridge-customers say the
signs are confusing and misleading, but that the work is supposed to be
done by May 20th. At least 10 different families say to ignore the
detour signs as no one is working on the road and they just drive on
through. However, we suggest you use common sense. We will
post more about the road as soon as we get an update from CalTrans.
(updated 5/23/2011)
May 18, 2011 click
to see work location
We were given notice that the Rio Vista ferry will be operating fully
again on May 18th. Apparently there was a major break tht caused
the ferry to be down this long and then the Coast Guard had to recertify
the ferry!
May 17, 2011
May 16, 2011
May 15, 2011
click on the above to see communication
May 13, 2011
may 12, 2011
May 9, 2011
May 3, 2011
May 3, 2011
Update: The ferry
is running now.
But note that route 84 on the north end of Ryer Island up to the Miner's
Slough bridge will be getting new pavement starting 4/25/2011, so come
around to our side of the island instead! pdf:
St. RT. 84_2011improvements.pdf
Those of you coming out to visit, please remember to print out
our road map of the area as the new Rio Vista Ferry has broken down
several times. The Ferry was designed by CalTrans, we're told, and
built by the Nichols Bros in Washington, and lots of folks around here are
not happy that a brand new boat would have so many problems!! So if
you are pulling an RV, plan to use the BRIDGE onto Ryer Island. If
driving in a car or truck, plan for the J-Mac ferry from Grand Island to
Ryer Island, or else use the bridge at the north end of Ryer
Island. North
Delta Region PDF Map
& Directions from Sacramento
April 2011 road
repairs for Ryer Island and St. Route 84. No blockage for Miner's Slough bridge onto
Ryer Island
CalTrans has a section on their webiste offering maps for travel in the
state, including the San Francisco Bay and Delta Area. Notice
anything wrong with the CalTrans map? (Blue means water on the
CalTrans map key)
Yes, CalTrans in 2011 shows Ryer Island CURRENTLY as a lake in the
Delta...so now we understand why people were asking us if we are on a
lake. We're on Steamboat Slough, but lately another official
government agency says the waterway is now called the Sacramento
River....see below from the NOAA website. So if people trying to
find Snug Harbor are confused, don't feel bad: The government
agencies are much more confused than you are!
You can click on the
graphics on the right for the full size version "print screen" from each
website. Some have suggested the government is doing this to keep
people away from the Delta so no one will complain that they want to take
even more fresh water away from the farmers, land owners, businesses,
local communities...and yes, the fish.
April & May 2011
We've requested
that CalTrans correct
their online "travel"
map so that it does
not look like Ryer
is already a gigantic
water storage basin
or Delta Dam!
April 2011 NOAA and
USGS show Steamboat Slough as other names
2-23-2011 new ferry with school bus on its 3rd
day of full operations
We're told the official christening of the new ferry will happen in a few
days. Note to RV folks. We suggest you use the bridge route
onto Ryer Island as the design of the new ferry has a "dip" when getting
on which makes it likely your back bumper will scrape. We watched as
farming and dump trucks (that had no problems with the former ferry) had
difficulty driving onto the ferry without scraping the undersides of the
vehicles, due to the "big dip". Apparently, this ferry was designed
for a different type of loading ramp....
2-22-2011Even with the stormy weather, the new Real McCoy Ferry II is up and
running! Its larger and the ramps that lift up are longer. It
can take "legal loads". Caltrans has a new policy though...it will
run when at least 4 cars are onboard, or a car has waited 10 minutes for a
ride. I guess this new policy reduces wear and tear and gas use for
the new ferry.
Snug Harbor Resorts, LLC 3356 Snug Harbor Drive,
(& Port Lane, Starboard Lane and Marina View Circle are roads located
within the resort grounds) Ryer Island in Solano County. near
Rio Vista, CA 916-775-1455 office@snugharbor.net
GPS: Use Port Lane, Rio Vista, Solano County
38.19921 -121.61364
California Delta's Snug
Harbor!
Copyright @
1997-2011
click
to see work location
