Columbia-Snake River Navigation Locks Close for Annual Maintenance

Oregon — Navigation locks along the Columbia-Snake River System will temporarily close this March for scheduled annual maintenance conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Portland District.

The closures will pause vessel traffic along one of the Pacific Northwest’s most important trade corridors, which supports roughly $24 billion in commerce each year and handles more than 10 million tons of cargo annually.

Three major locks will undergo maintenance during the outage period. Bonneville Lock, located at Columbia River Mile 146.1, will close at 12:01 a.m. on March 2 and reopen at 11:59 p.m. on March 14. The Dalles Lock at Mile 191.5 and John Day Lock at Mile 215.6 will both close at 12:01 a.m. on March 1 and are scheduled to reopen at 11:59 p.m. on March 21.

During the closure, crews will perform a range of inspection and repair work designed to extend the life of the infrastructure and improve reliability. At Bonneville Lock, workers will partially dewater the chamber to inspect and repair damage, replace timber beams on the gates, and upgrade control systems.

At The Dalles Lock, crews will fully dewater the chamber to install new instrumentation on the upstream gate wire ropes, inspect previous repairs, and reinforce sections of the upstream gate.

John Day Lock will also be fully dewatered while crews complete concrete and weld repairs around the tainter valves, inspect electrical systems, and replace downstream gate trackwheels critical to lock operations.

“Our team has spent the past year preparing, and this work will give our locks some well-deserved care,” said USACE project manager Ross Foster. “We’ll be repairing existing damage, upgrading aging systems, and improving safety and reliability for the long term.”

The closure schedules were coordinated with the USACE Walla Walla District to reduce disruptions. That district plans its own lock maintenance closure from March 8 through March 22, overlapping part of the Portland District’s work.

Recreational boaters will not be able to pass through the locks during the closure period and may encounter restricted access near work zones for safety reasons. Inland shippers, cruise operators, and other river users are encouraged to plan accordingly.

Navigation along the Columbia River has been a core mission of the USACE Portland District since 1871, supporting agriculture, exports, and regional economic activity throughout the Pacific Northwest.