Ronda Bailey

Proud of its status as the "Gateway to the Napa Valley," the growing city of American Canyon has seen a boom in construction in recent years. More than 2,500 new homes, a new industrial park, and brisk commercial development are transforming the face of the city into a highly balanced urban center. Incorporate in 1992 about 35 miles northeast of San Francisco, the city enjoys a strategic location between the world-class attractions in the "City by the Bay" and pastoral Napa County. Newcomers will find a city surrounded by a "green belt" of preserved habitat and natural features. The Napa River and 500 acres of protected wetlands lie to the west, the 640-acre Jack & Bernice Newell Wilderness Preserve border on the east, and vineyard-covered foothills of the Sulphur Springs Mountains rise in the northeast. The major thoroughfare of Highway 29 and the world-famous Napa Valley Wine Trail both traverse the community. Highway 12 connects to Interstate 80 just three miles north.