diff --git a/google-cloud-bigquery-jdbc/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/jdbc/BigQueryConnection.java b/google-cloud-bigquery-jdbc/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/jdbc/BigQueryConnection.java
index e93938f25..188b3f9a8 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigquery-jdbc/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/jdbc/BigQueryConnection.java
+++ b/google-cloud-bigquery-jdbc/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/jdbc/BigQueryConnection.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 import com.google.api.gax.core.CredentialsProvider;
 import com.google.api.gax.core.FixedCredentialsProvider;
+import com.google.api.gax.grpc.InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider;
 import com.google.api.gax.retrying.RetrySettings;
 import com.google.api.gax.rpc.FixedHeaderProvider;
 import com.google.api.gax.rpc.HeaderProvider;
@@ -1053,10 +1054,23 @@ private BigQueryReadClient getBigQueryReadClientConnection() throws IOException
     if (this.universeDomain != null) {
       bigQueryReadSettings.setUniverseDomain(this.universeDomain);
     }
-    if (this.transportChannelProvider != null) {
-      bigQueryReadSettings.setTransportChannelProvider(this.transportChannelProvider);
+    TransportChannelProvider activeProvider = this.transportChannelProvider;
+    if (activeProvider == null) {
+      activeProvider = BigQueryReadSettings.defaultGrpcTransportProviderBuilder().build();
+    }
+
+    if (activeProvider instanceof InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider) {
+      activeProvider =
+          ((InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider) activeProvider)
+              .toBuilder()
+                  .setKeepAliveTimeDuration(java.time.Duration.ofSeconds(10))
+                  .setKeepAliveTimeoutDuration(java.time.Duration.ofSeconds(5))
+                  .setKeepAliveWithoutCalls(true)
+                  .build();
     }
 
+    bigQueryReadSettings.setTransportChannelProvider(activeProvider);
+
     return BigQueryReadClient.create(bigQueryReadSettings.build());
   }
 
diff --git a/google-cloud-bigquery-jdbc/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/jdbc/BigQueryConnectionTest.java b/google-cloud-bigquery-jdbc/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/jdbc/BigQueryConnectionTest.java
index 22f98af07..6df4724b2 100644
--- a/google-cloud-bigquery-jdbc/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/jdbc/BigQueryConnectionTest.java
+++ b/google-cloud-bigquery-jdbc/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/bigquery/jdbc/BigQueryConnectionTest.java
@@ -18,8 +18,11 @@
 
 import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 
+import com.google.api.gax.grpc.InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider;
 import com.google.api.gax.rpc.HeaderProvider;
+import com.google.api.gax.rpc.TransportChannelProvider;
 import com.google.cloud.bigquery.exception.BigQueryJdbcException;
+import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.BigQueryReadClient;
 import com.google.cloud.bigquery.storage.v1.BigQueryWriteClient;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
@@ -340,4 +343,25 @@ public void testMetaDataFetchThreadCountProperty() throws SQLException, IOExcept
           connectionCustom.getMetadataFetchThreadCount());
     }
   }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testBigQueryReadClientKeepAliveSettings() throws SQLException, IOException {
+    String url =
+        "jdbc:bigquery://https://www.googleapis.com/bigquery/v2:443;"
+            + "OAuthType=2;ProjectId=MyBigQueryProject;"
+            + "OAuthAccessToken=redactedToken;OAuthClientId=redactedToken;"
+            + "OAuthClientSecret=redactedToken;";
+    try (BigQueryConnection connection = new BigQueryConnection(url)) {
+      BigQueryReadClient readClient = connection.getBigQueryReadClient();
+      assertNotNull(readClient);
+
+      TransportChannelProvider provider = readClient.getSettings().getTransportChannelProvider();
+      assertTrue(provider instanceof InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider);
+
+      InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider grpcProvider = (InstantiatingGrpcChannelProvider) provider;
+      assertEquals(java.time.Duration.ofSeconds(10), grpcProvider.getKeepAliveTimeDuration());
+      assertEquals(java.time.Duration.ofSeconds(5), grpcProvider.getKeepAliveTimeoutDuration());
+      assertTrue(grpcProvider.getKeepAliveWithoutCalls());
+    }
+  }
 }