In what has become a familiar refrain 0ver the years for residents of Rio Vista and Delta island dwellers who rely on the levee backroads to get around, the Real McCoy II ferry boat is out of service. Again.
Caltrans announced that the 88-foot car ferry, which provides a free but vital connection across Cache Slough on state Highway 84 between Rio Vista and Ryer Island in eastern Solano County, is currently out of service due to mechanical repairs of the vessel that began on Friday.
When operational, the diesel-powered ferry runs every 20 minutes around the clock, transporting up to eight vehicles at a time as one of two state-owned ferries operating in the Delta.
The closures, when they occur — which has been often in recent years — have a profound impact on the roughly 300 residents of Ryer Island, an 11,700-acre farming community along the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. What would normally be a 800-foot crossing of Cache Slough to reach the western shore of Rio Vista becomes a 21-mile, 50-minute detour along winding levee roads to connect with the J-Mack Ferry on Highway 220, then east to the town of Ryde where drivers have to take Highway 160 south back to Highway 12 in order to cross into Rio Vista.
The situation has not gone without notice by state officials. A 2022 independent audit of the Delta ferry system by the Inspector General for the California Department of Transportation said, “Our review found that over the last few years the ferries were frequently out of service, which limited their reliability and usefulness to the regional community.”
The Real McCoy II went into service in 2011 as a replacement for the original Real McCoy, but it has frequently been sidelined by mechanical problems. The 2022 audit found that it was out of service an average of 116 days a year. In 2020 alone, the ferry was inoperable for 272 days, including a stretch of 101 continuous days after it struck a portion of the dock and required emergency repairs, the audit said.
Approximately 137,000 vehicles per year rely on the two Ryer Island ferry connections, according to the audit report, costing Caltrans about $4 million annually. Caltrans at the time planned to spend $20 million to upgrade the ferry landings, but anticipated changes to state environmental rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions could require Caltrans to replace the Real McCoy II, making its continued maintenance a wasted expense.
During the current closure, Caltrans said riders who normally use the ferry can detour via state Highway 220’s J-Mack Ferry for crossings, which are scheduled every 20 minutes.
For the latest conditions, call the Caltrans Ferry Update Line at 510-622-0120. Motorists can also find additional information on Caltrans’ Delta Ferries webpage.
