Abstract: The Zhangjiazhou waterway is one of the navigation hindering reaches of the downstream Changjiang River. Before the completion of the waterway regulation works, the channel was in a very bad condition during the dry season, and navigational accidents occurred frequently. It was difficult to ensure navigation safety because of having many difficults in waterway construction, management and maintenance. In this paper, the basic situations and regulation works are presented, and the changes in the river regime, waterway conditions and the stability of the regulation works before and after the completion of construction are analysed. Based on the summation of operation experiences from the regulation works, it is suggested that the ongoing management and maintenance must be done for the regulation works in the future. The practical operation of the regulation works shows that the river regime is more stable; the south and north branches have little changes in diversion ratio; the navigation conditions are significantly improved; all the channel has a depth of 4 m; and an interval length of the depth of 5 m is shortened greatly, therefore, the annual fluctuation of water depth tends to be stable. Having little effect on the scouring and deposition along the lower shallow area, the overall regulation works have achieved the expected remediation goals, and completely met the design standards of 4.5 m×200 m×1 050 m for the navigation channel.