Navajo Dam road closure begins Wednesday

The “Quality Waters” section of the San Juan River below Navajo Dam, which stretches for 4.5 miles, boasts one of the best trout fisheries in North America.
Highway will be closed until May 15

New Mexico Highway 539 over Navajo Dam, located about 45 miles east of Farmington, will be closed to traffic from Wednesday, Feb. 28, to May 15.

Traffic detours will re-route traffic traveling between Navajo Dam and Navajo City that runs from north/south on New Mexico Highway 511 and runs east/west on US Highway 64 and detours may cause travel delays.

Maintenance crews will be completing exploratory drilling to gather geotechnical data on Navajo Dam as part of Reclamation’s Safety of Dams Program during this period. “This exploratory drilling will give Reclamation the necessary information to learn how best to address the seepage issues at Navajo Dam," said Western Colorado Area Manager Ed Warner.

The drilling schedule and other project updates will be available on our website. Road closure information is also available on New Mexico’s Department of Transportation website.

For more information, contact Justyn Liff, (970) 248-0625, jliff@usbr.gov or Reece Carpenter, (970) 248-0637, rkcarpenter@usbr.gov