A small-craft basin is on the W side of Napa River opposite Bull Island, 8 miles above the Vallejo-Mare Island Causeway, and several other small-craft facilities are elsewhere on the river.
Navigation:
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Napa River, the continuation of Mare Island Strait above the Vallejo-Mare Island Causeway Bridge, is used by barges and pleasure boats. A dredged channel leads from the causeway bridge to a turning basin at Jacks Bend, thence to the head of navigation at the 3rd Street Bridge in Napa, 13 miles above the causeway bridge. A Federal project provides a depth of 10 feet from Horseshoe Bend to the upstream limit of the channel. Napa River is marked to Horeshoe Bend by lights and a daybeacon; above Horseshoe Bend, the river is marked by lights and daybeacons to the 3rd Street Bridge in Napa. A visible wreck, marked by a buoy, is on the E side of the channel just N of Slaughterhouse Point. In 2004, a submerged obstruction was reported in the channel E of Knight Island in about 38°08’16.5″N., 122°16’57.2″W.
The railroad bridge across Napa River at Brazos, about 6.8 miles above the Vallejo-Mare Island Causeway, has a vertical lift span with a clearance of 2 feet down and 97 feet up. When not in use, the drawspan is maintained in the open to navigation position. The channel through the bridge crosses from one bank to the other causing a hazardous condition, particularly for downbound loaded barges, because the direction of the ebb current is as much as 50° from the axis of the channel.
A fixed highway bridge with a clearance of 107 feet crosses the Napa River at Suscol, about 9.7 miles above the Vallejo-Mare Island Causeway.
Near Imola, 12 miles above Vallejo-Mare Island Causeway bridge, a fixed highway bridge crosses the river with a clearance of 60 feet. The three fixed bridges in Napa have a minimum width of 47 feet and a clearance of 3.7 feet. The minimum clearance of the power cables crossing the river below Napa is 125 feet, and in Napa, 40 feet.
