Portland’s waterways will once again be full of large navy ships this week, an impressive and relatively disruptive spectacle for city residents.
For more than 80 years, visiting ships from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy have been docking in downtown Portland for Fleet Week. It’s one of the hallmarks of the Portland Rose Festival, as the large ships sit in the Willamette River for multiple days.

The Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge raises for a ship passing through on the Willamette River in Portland, Ore., on May 29, 2024.
April Ehrlich / OPB
But those large ships arriving and leaving also create complications for the thousands of commuters using Portland’s bridges and the people operating them.
Aysha Ghazoul, the bridge operations coordinator for Multnomah County, said Fleet Week is the one time of year that four bridges are staffed 24 hours a day.
“We try to do our openings as quickly and efficiently as possible, because we know the impact on pedestrians, on traffic, can be quite huge,” Ghazoul said.
In particular, the Broadway, Steel and Burnside bridges will be the most impacted by lifts. Ghazoul said it takes 15 minutes just to open the Broadway Bridge for oncoming ships.
All the visiting ships mean Portland’s many bridges will be raised for long periods of time:
- Tuesday, June 3: Three ships will arrive between 3-6 p.m. and lifts could last up to 45 minutes.
- Wednesday, June 4: Four ships will arrive between 4-8 p.m., again with lifts lasting up to 45 minutes.
The Steel Bridge will also be closed to cyclists and pedestrians on Tuesday and Wednesday until the last ship arrives for the day. It’s recommended that commuters on foot and by bike seek alternative routes.
And Portland metro area transit agency TriMet warned that all MAX lines and the Portland Streetcar would be disrupted around the Steel Bridge as the ships arrive and depart.
(1/2) Plan Ahead: In the afternoon and evening of Tuesday, June 3, and Wednesday, June 4, all MAX lines and Portland Streetcar will be disrupted around the Steel Bridge, and several bus lines will be detoured due to Rose Festival Fleet Week ship arrivals and bridge lifts.
— TriMet Service Alerts (@trimetalerts) June 2, 2025
All of the ships are scheduled to leave Monday, June 9, and operators anticipate frequent bridge lifts again throughout the day.
Ghazoul said people should consider commuting on the Hawthorne and Morrison bridges, if possible, to avoid long delays.
U.S. Navy ships will be available to tour from June 5-8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Anyone wanting to tour one of the U.S. Navy ships must have a REAL ID or passport, because they’re considered federal facilities. Rose Festival officials say the ships will have an “airport-style security screening checkpoint.”
A full list of visiting ships can be found on the Rose Festival website.