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CalTrans 2011 Wrong on Ryer Island
CALTRANS is the agency in California that plans and builds the roads for our state.  CALTRANS is split into different jurisidctions in California, and Ryer Island located in Solano County, is part of District 4 of CALTRANS, also called the San Francisco Bay Delta Region.  The map below was found in 2001, after repeated calls from potential customers from out of the area, asking if we bordered a "lake" and where were we located.....Out of area travelers with large RV's will use the CALTRANS website to determine the best roads to travel, so it makes sense that they would go to http://www.dot.ca.gov/travel/dist_04/ or the "travel map" for the Bay Area.  Its a nice, interactive map EXCEPT for a pretty important mistake....it shows Ryer Island as a gigantic lake!  No wonder we were getting those calls!  Just to make it clear...Ryer Island still exists, the levee roads are just fine, the bridge to Ryer Island is at the north end of the island and there are two ferrys to Ryer Island.  The Rio Vista ferry or "Real McCoy II" gose from St. Route 84 just off Hwy 12 in Rio Vista (2 miles north) across Cache Slough (also called the Sacramento Ship Channel) over to Ryer Island.  You drive your car on the ferry and it takes 3-4 minutes to get across.  Ferry runs 24/7/365 but they take breaks for lunch and dinner and tend to wait until there are at least 4 vehicles or 10 minutes wait time before leaving for the other side.  There is also the J-Mac Ferry that takes smaller cars from Grand dIsland to Ryer Island, and is part of St. Route 220, at Howard Landing.
The map itself says it was created 07/16/2008.  For what reason would CALTRANS list Ryer Island as a lake?  In April 2011 we asked the spokesperson for CALTRANS District 4 to correct the map. In the meantime, click on our own map below to see the larger version that you can print out and bring with you!