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Alpha Dogs: Labs Play Key Role On Int'l Bridge Construction Project

Anyone who has worked with Alpha Software knows that we're dog lovers. Today's blog highlights two topics we care about: dogs and construction.

An international bridge project between the U.S. and Canada is using innovative technology and some furry friends to keep interruptions to a minimum and maintain safety.

construction cable bridgeThe Gordie Howe International Bridge project establishes a cable-stayed bridge to span the Detroit River. The bridge will connect Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario by linking Michigan's Interstate 75 with Ontario's Highway 401. This bridge replaces the Ambassador Bridge, which opened in 1929 and is the busiest crossing on the Canada–United States border, with nearly 25% of U.S.–Canada border crossings by trucks using the Ambassador bridge. According to the CBC, "Almost $500 million US in trade and an average of 10,000 commercial vehicles pass daily over the Ambassador Bridge."

Construction on the Gordie Howe International Bridge began in July 2014 and is expected to complete in 2025. This construction project has won numerous awards for its innovation, design and project management. The bridge is named after Canadian professional ice hockey player Gordie Howe, who played the bulk of his career for the Detroit Red Wings.

Goldie Howe Bridge Project Dog ConstructionOne thing that makes this project so unique is its use of dogs and falcons to keep the project on track and help keep workers safe. Both play an important role in protecting wildlife on site.

The project includes multiple falcons and a team of 4-5 dogs that work on the bridge site. Every day 2 dogs are used, with one dog on day shift and one dog on night shift. With dogs and falcons patrolling the site, they ensure that birds do not next on the project or in the surrounding ground area, and they keep other wildlife away from the site. This effort ensures that the project is not delayed because workers have to relocate bird nests or deal with other animals on the site.

Courtesy of the Construction Links Network, this video tells the story of 2-year old, black lab "D" and how she's working with the falconry team on the Goldie Howe International Bridge project to keep birds and wildlife off the construction site. 

 

We commend the project team on their use of man's best friend to help keep wildlife safer and keep this $5.7 billion, 1.5-mile cable-stayed span on track for its opening. 

Learn how Alpha Software's work with construction companies and how we're helping contractors and project managers streamline their projects, keep worksites site and speed approvals. 

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About Author

Amy Groden-Morrison
Amy Groden-Morrison

Amy Groden-Morrison has served more than 15 years in marketing communications leadership roles at companies such as TIBCO Software, RSA Security and Ziff-Davis. Most recently she was responsible for developing marketing programs that helped achieve 30%+ annual growth rate for analytics products at a $1Bil, NASDAQ-listed business integration Software Company. Her past accomplishments include establishing the first co-branded technology program with CNN, launching an events company on the NYSE, rebranding a NASDAQ-listed company amid a crisis, and positioning and marketing a Boston-area startup for successful acquisition. Amy currently serves as a Healthbox Accelerator Program Mentor, Marketing Committee Lead for the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge Launch Smart Clinics, and on the organizing team for Boston TechJam. She holds an MBA from Northeastern University.

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The Alpha platform is the only unified mobile and web app development and deployment environment with distinct “no-code” and “low-code” components. Using the Alpha TransForm no-code product, business users and developers can take full advantage of all the capabilities of the smartphone to turn any form into a mobile app in minutes, and power users can add advanced app functionality with Alpha TransForm's built-in programming language. IT developers can use the Alpha Anywhere low-code environment to develop complex web or mobile business apps from scratch, integrate data with existing systems of record and workflows (including data collected via Alpha TransForm), and add additional security or authentication requirements to protect corporate data.

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