Posted yesterday at 4:00 p.m.
We talk a lot about the third Quebec City link, but we don’t talk a lot about the current bridges. Yet they are important factors in this approach. Is the Quebec Bridge at the end of its life or in good and durable condition? The Pierre-Laporte bridge needs repairs. What are these repairs?
Louis Menard
It’s true, Quebec’s bridges need love. And in the opinion of many, they are not given enough. It is now that trucks are asked to drive in the center of the Pierre-Laporte bridge, a useless measure according to engineers we spoke to, but who nevertheless insist on the importance of undertaking work.
Let’s start with the Quebec Bridge, a key bridge for rail transport in addition to offering the only cycling link to cross the river, except for the Quebec-Lévis ferry. It is also part of a transport chain between the Port of Quebec and the rest of the province. Currently, this bridge is the property of CN, but negotiations are underway for its purchase by the federal government, which, however, requires compensation from CN and Quebec. This bridge requires work as well as a good coat of paint. The bill for its maintenance is estimated at around 800 million dollars over the next 25 years. The problem is that there is disagreement on the financial participation of the three players involved, namely Quebec, Ottawa and CN.
“The Liberal Party of Canada promised in 2015 to solve the problem of the Quebec bridge, reminds us of the press secretary of the Minister of Transport of Quebec, Claudia Loupret. We are still waiting. This is federal infrastructure. On our side, our responsibility is limited exclusively to the apron and the maintenance of the roadway. We are also going to invest more than 200 million dollars, provided for in the QIP [Plan québécois des infrastructures], to fulfill this commitment. We are largely doing our part. Preparatory work should begin in 2023.” A file to follow.
As for the Pierre-Laporte bridge, a key link for the transportation of goods by truck between eastern Quebec and the United States, it also needs to be renovated. A Radio-Canada investigation revealed that the Quebec Ministry of Transport (MTQ) spent 31.2 million in the 2021-2022 fiscal year to carry out maintenance work. The previous year, still according to Radio-Canada, the sum devoted to this work amounted to $26.7 million. And we guess that it will not decrease. But don’t change your weekend plans lest the start of construction cause traffic jams. Transport Minister François Bonnardel said last week that work to replace the deck of the Pierre-Laporte bridge should begin in… 2037.
Currently, the funds for the maintenance of these two bridges come from a regional envelope. Should we do as with the Jacques-Cartier and Samuel-De Champlain bridges and create a separate structure, with a dedicated fund, for the maintenance of the capital’s major bridges? This is a solution to seriously consider. Certainly, you have to take better care of it.