Czech Děčín Dam Project to Enable Year-Round Navigation on the Elbe

The Czech government plans to begin construction of a navigation dam (jez) in Děčín within three years, a project discussed since the 1990s. The dam will be about 4.5 m high and roughly seven kilometres long, spanning the city’s intravilan, and will include environmental measures such as fish passages and floodplain habitats.

Preparatory studies and calculations have already cost around 600 million CZK. Once built, the structure is expected to deepen the Elbe between Ústí nad Labem and the German border, potentially allowing navigation for up to 345 days a year and handling up to 4.5 million tonnes of cargo. The effort follows a Czech‑German agreement on Elbe navigability and aims to improve the competitiveness of water transport for logistics firms.