Editing Quebec Bridge (section)

==  Corrosion and maintenance  ==
[[File:Pont_de_Québec_vu_du_Parc_aquarium_du_Québec.JPG|thumb|The bridge seen from the [[Parc Aquarium du Québec]]]]

In 2015, the Quebec Bridge was included in a list of the 10 most endangered historic sites in Canada by the National Trust of Canada because of long-overdue paint and repair work.

{{blockquote|It is estimated that 60% of the bridge is covered in corrosive rust. Since its transfer to CN Rail by the federal government in 1993, maintenance and restoration programs for this historic infrastructure have been cut back. In November 2014, the City of Quebec, City of Lévis, Province of Quebec, and Government of Canada joined in pledging half the estimated $200 million cost of repainting and restoring the Quebec Bridge. To date, CN Rail has not agreed to match this amount. CN Rail has deemed the proposed sanding and restorative paint work to be "aesthetic" and therefore unnecessary, a categorization supported by a ruling of the Superior Court of Quebec.<br />The corrosion, accelerated by exposure to extremes of weather, will ultimately result in the loss of the bridge's mechanical properties—and potentially, its structural integrity as well.<ref name=selm>{{cite journal
 | last = Seim
 | first = Charles
 | date=May 2008
 | title = Why Bridges Have Failed Throughout History
 | journal = Civil Engineering
 | volume = 78
 | issue = 8
 | pages = 64–71, 84–87
 | publisher = American Society of Civil Engineers
 | location = Reston, VA
 | issn = 0885-7024
 |doi=10.1061/ciegag.0000172
 | url = http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?163656
 | url-access = subscription
 }}</ref>}}

In May 2016, [[Jean-Yves Duclos]], the Canadian federal cabinet minister in charge of the Quebec region, revealed that a lease agreement between the CN and the federal government indicated that the CN would not be required to pay more than $10 million towards the paint work until the lease expires in 2053. The Canadian government is now proposing to invest $75 million to paint the bridge and is asking the Quebec provincial government to step in and invest an estimated additional $275 million to complete the work. The mayor of Quebec City, [[Regis Labeaume]], accused the federal government of breaching a promise made during the 2015 electoral campaign to act upon the maintenance of the bridge <ref name=cook>{{cite book | author=Cook, Richard J. | url=http://www.goldenwestbooks.com/stations-and-bridges/the-beauty-of-railroad-bridges/ | title=The Beauty of Railroad Bridges in North America – Then and Now | publisher=Golden West Books|location=California | year=1987 | isbn=0-87095-097-5 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120602063242/http://www.goldenwestbooks.com/stations-and-bridges/the-beauty-of-railroad-bridges/ | archive-date=2012-06-02 }}</ref>