How the Gordie Howe International Bridge Boosts Trade Between Canada and the US
The Gordie Howe International Bridge is North America's symbol of success. It perfectly represents how two powerful nations can enhance traffic situations and the movement of products and services by opening and connecting the United States and Canada borders.
Intentionally designed to serve both countries to boost each other's global economic power and trade relationships, the bridge will connect the bustling cities of Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, by linking Highway 401's Rt. Hon. Gray Parkway and Interstate 75.
Read on and learn the effects and the importance of how the Gordie Howe International Bridge boosts trade between Canada and the U.S.
Gordie Howe International Bridge: A Catalyst for Strengthening International Trade Relations
The United States and Canada international trade relationship is essential for various reasons. One, it helps promote the nation's economic growth allowing business people to invest, import products and services that are not available domestically, and enable the U.S. to export their products to Canada, increasing their profitability rate.
Former U.S. President D.J Trump and Canadian Prime Minister J. Trudeau called to expedite the building process on February 13, 2017. Once completed in 2025, the six-lane bridge will handle around 27,000 private and commercial vehicles crossing daily, opening each border to expand markets and economic activities.
Job creation is another reason why the U.S. and Canada pursue building the Gordie Howe International Bridge employing hundreds of construction professionals from Dragados, Fluor Corporation, A.C.S. Infrastructure, and A.E.C.O.M.'s Erik Behrens, who is responsible for the one-of-a-kind state-of-the-art design.
Behrens and Parsons Corporation handles the bridge's architecture and engineering, ensures smooth operations, efficient transportation, and secure facilities through employing high-quality and aesthetically pleasing construction materials from the best access doors, which are responsible for protecting the Gordie Howe International Bridge's vital cables, wires, and control systems to the bridge's primary materials such as steel, concrete, and even stones.
Access Doors and Panels Efficiently Support Gordie Howe International Bridge
Bridge engineering and architecture require critical elements such as access panels that promote functionality, accessibility, and aesthetics to facilitate safety and secure routine inspections, maintenance, repair, and installation without compromising the intricate details of the Gordie Howe International Bridge. Here are various benefits of incorporating exterior access doors into the infrastructure.
- Equipment Accessibility
Access doors are efficient entry points for installation and maintenance and repair teams to access equipment installed within the bridge structure. It allows you, construction professionals, and engineers to quickly access the electrical systems, communications equipment's location, and other hard-to-reach areas.
- Safety and Security
Safety and security are primary factors you must consider whether you are building a bridge, commercial buildings, or industrial infrastructures. You must guarantee your team's safety when performing their tasks and ensure that the cables and wires are one-hundred percents protected from rodents, unauthorized personnel, and extreme weather conditions to prevent any damage which will highly affect the bridge's operation and structural integrity.
Incorporating advanced security locks, alarms, and real-time monitoring systems will also strengthen the security protocol by reducing the risk of tampering, breaches, and theft.
In addition, a highly secured control system will also help monitor traffic and accidents in real time, allowing the emergency service team to respond quickly to the exact location of the emergency, as shown in the monitoring system.
- Lesser Downtime
Gordie Howe International Bridge may inevitably encounter emergency inspections and repairs; in critical situations, the exterior access door allows the staff and repair teams to quickly resolve the problem resulting in lesser downtime while ensuring the functionality and safety of the bridge and the travellers.
Minimized downtown period helps companies transport their goods and services on time to Canada or the U.S., increasing the opportunity to generate more income from their products.
- Improved Monitoring Instrumentation
With today's technology, most infrastructures now have monitoring and instrumentation systems to help the management gather structural performance, load capacity, vibration, and probably environmental data, which are all essential to determine the overall health of the structure.
Highly insulated metal access panels can help protect these systems from snow, rain, or other weather situations that may damage the control system or trigger inaccurate results.
- Energy Efficiency
Energy efficiency is another crucial consideration when building any infrastructure, whether a bridge, a residential building, or a commercial space. Energy-efficient products are efficient in preventing the risk of air leakage and heat loss, guaranteeing a well-maintained temperature for the units and systems.
In addition, energy-efficient access doors and panels are vital in protecting the structure's internal components to ensure its performance, longevity, and sustainability, which means improving thermal insulation will proportionately reduce the carbon footprint of the building or bridge.
- Compliance with Safety Regulations
Every structural design must comply with specific codes for it to become operational. Most guidelines and safety regulations require access doors and panels to ensure that the electrical wires and other vital systems are well-protected from extreme weather conditions and accidents such as fire emergencies.
Incorporating multi-purpose access doors such as fire-rated access doors can guarantee that the components are secured from the fire up to a certain extent. These doors can effectively prevent fire spread for up to three hours.
In some instances, these access doors can also serve as an emergency fire exit or an entry point for firefighters to enter the area quickly.
Access doors and panels with such features and adherence to safety standards help improve the public trust in the management of Gordie Howe International Bridge.
The Versatility of the Best Access Doors
Access doors and panels have several advantages, which include versatility in applications that makes them fit any bridge, commercial, correctional, and manufacturing facility. Here's a quick overview of their versatility in different infrastructures.
- Commercial Buildings
Commercial buildings use various access doors depending on the installation area. Some use drywall access panels or general-purpose access doors with accessibility as their primary purpose.
Installing access doors and panels in commercial buildings allows maintenance staff and technicians to check HVAC systems or ductwork through its easy-to-open panel quickly.
- Manufacturing Facilities
Access doors and panels have a significant role in manufacturing facilities. These infrastructures often have multiple tools, devices, machinery, and systems that you must protect to prevent damage.
Installing insulated access doors in these buildings is essential to ensure that the behind-the-wall and ceiling temperatures will not affect room temperature, which is more likely set to the best temperature for the machines to work correctly and for the workers' comfort.
- Utility Plants
The water treatment and power plant needs access doors to enhance the reliability and the plants' operation efficiency. It allows authorized staff to access vital areas such as transformer vaults and switchgear rooms where designated employees perform maintenance and emergency repairs.
- Data Centers
Servers are essential to a building as they store most of the company's data, from CCTV videos to computer activities. Protecting these data from unauthorized personnel is a crucial task that leads engineers and architects to integrate the server rooms and network closet's design with high-security access doors and panels while ensuring that only authorized employees such as I.T. personnel can access it. Doing these can prevent phishing, identity theft, and other fraudulent activities that may compromise your business' operation.
The Gordie Howe Bridge and Access Doors: Key to Trade Success
Access doors are integral to the Gordie Howe Bridge and the international trade success of the United States and Canada. Installing the best access doors ensures that the bridge's functionality, security, and efficiency are intact. These doors efficiently protect the critical components, such as advanced security and monitoring systems, that the bridge needs to carry out a vast number of travellers every day safely.
The access doors' energy efficiency and sustainability, usually presented by a LEED-certified logo, will also help the bridge or any infrastructure to increase its LEED points.
The access doors' compliance with local codes and safety guidelines boosts travellers' confidence when crossing to and fro the U.S. and Canada to transmit their products confidently by land.
In addition, the access doors' versatility expands beyond the state-of-the-art bridge to commercial buildings, utility plants, manufacturing, and data centers to support and maintain the day-to-day operation.
It secures their vital components from unauthorized access, allowing service personnel to perform their task quickly to a lesser downtime period and complying with specific requirements to ensure a safe operation.
Overall, employing access doors and panels for Gordie Howe Bridge is vital to establish a solid trade relationship and ensuring positive economic growth for the United States and Canada.
Just as the Gordie Howe International Bridge strengthens the connectivity of North America's most affluent countries, access doors and panels and their benefits and functionalities support various infrastructures from different industries for smooth and efficient operations.
Strengthen Your Next Projects Foundation with Access Doors
Guarantee gains and profitability with the best access doors! Strengthen your next project's position in the market with building code-compliant construction materials that promote sustainability, energy efficiency, and accessibility, and improve the infrastructure and the worker's safety and security.
Reach us today for the best deals at 1-800-679-3405, and our product experts will be with you immediately!
Or, fill this in for a custom quote request. You may check our blog and expert articles here to learn more about our products.
