Posted on 05/20/2016 8:39:08 AM PDT by conservative98
He has said that the wall would be built from precast concrete and steel and that it could be 50 feet tall, if not higher. After calling for it to extend across the entire 2,000-mile southern border, he more recently said half that length could be sufficient because of natural barriers. He has pegged the cost at $4 billion to $12 billion, most recently settling on around $10b.
Some see that as low. “There’s a lot of logistics involved in this, and I don’t know how thoroughly they’ve thought it out,” said Todd Sternfeld, chief executive of Superior Concrete, a Texas-based builder of walls. “The resources alone would be astronomical.”
Mr. Sternfeld, who has led major wall projects across the country and approached the Trump family last summer, suggested that Mr. Trump was overly optimistic about the cost and was underestimating the complexity of the undertaking.
Running the numbers, Mr. Sternfeld said a 40-foot-tall concrete wall using a “post and panel” system that went 10 feet below the ground — to minimize tunneling — would cost at least $26 billion. The logistics would be nightmarish, including multiple concrete casting sites and temporary housing for a crew of 1,000 workers if the job were to be completed within Mr. Trump’s first four-year term.
Maintenance would be an additional recurring expense, said Walter W. Boles, an engineering professor at Middle Tennessee State University who specializes in concrete construction. Deep trench work would also be necessary for keeping a wall of that height from toppling, he said, and seismic sensors to detect digging would be wise for preserving its integrity from below.
“That’s one heck of a construction project,” said Mr. Boles, who assessed Patrick J. Buchanan’s 1996 proposal for a border barrier. “It’s certainly a lot more ambitious than I was imagining.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
>> A lot more than you can afford, considering that he’s not going to do either of those things <<
Didn’t Mr Trump say that those things were just “examples” of what he might do, just as his list of eleven judges was meant to give “examples” of whom he might nominate.
Nice thing about the wall, is that no matter who is in charge of enforcing our laws, it provides a big barrier.
Its election insurance.
Hey... this really is a “shovel ready job”. Even it was $26B, that’s peanuts compared to what the illegal immigration mess has cost us. The illegals are exporting over 20B a year back home to Mexico. Time to stop the insanity.
Wall first, then decide who stays and who goes. Give imprisoned illegals the choice to work on the wall or sit in prison. Pay ‘em a small stipend in pesos, to take with them when they are repatriated to Mexico, Guatemala, or wherever.
You have no evidence to support such a anti-Trump statement.
Vote Trump 2016
That would violate the constitutional prohibition against ex-post-facto laws. Like it or not (and I don't), those already born here are U.S. citizens.
Thanks for the info. The original post presumes a 10 ft below grade barrier to stop tunneling, which I included...I think in reality the wall would be maybe 5 feet below grade, so a person couldn’t just dig down 2 feet and shimmy under the wall. I don’t know where 50 ft came from (maybe Trump said it), but that’s pretty extreme.
$26 billion is peanuts to get rid of these roaches and keep them out.
I think they made it intentionally extreme.
I am not an engineer, but I would think they could come up with a barrier below grade that would be less expensive to sink than a concrete wall.
If the wall needs to be built on piers, which is definitely possible in Texas due to soils issues, I think you could use a different material below grade that would be difficult to penetrate, that could be placed between the piers.
Some value engineering should be done and could save quite a bit.
One thing that would help would be to have many “deport” themselves.
Any employer caught hiring illegal aliens would pay $1000 per illegal alien for a first offense, $5000 per for a second, and after that, the fine would double for every employee ($10,000, $20,000, $40,000, etc)
And cut off all government benefits, and all federal funding to any city, state, or organization, that provides “sanctuary” to illegal aliens.
Oh, and for any illegal alien that is deported twice, one the third deportation, before being sent back to where ever they came from, they get a tattoo across their forehead, “IA,” in large, bold, block letters.
Mark
here in South East Florida there are many small cities, LaBelle, Indiantown, Pahoke, South Bay and more that are majority illegal field workers.
\I have yet to see any ICE people in these places.
I guess they are afraid of causing a panic.
Gots to kiss the hand of big agriculture ya know.
Big Sugar gets away with incredible pollution as does big Beef and big Citrus.
And they're rewarded with huge profits due to governmental price controls, which allows them to buy even more political influence.
Mark
>$10 billion is only slightly less than Federal School lunch program.
$10B that, if my other points were implemented, is $10B too much.
My posted points of action would have cost $0 and would have numerous benefits from day one.
>Pocket change with a huge upside and benefit.
Pocket change. Few $B here, few $B there...pretty soon, you’re talking real $$. Huge upside and benefit is still to be determined. I’d rather we enforced the EXISTING laws THEN worried about spending more ‘pocket change’ of the taxpayer.
>You were for Cruz. Now you are bitter.
As an (I/ex-L), I had no dog in the fight. Hard to be bitter over a choice I had no ability to partake.
>So you lash out at Trumps cornerstone of his campaign.
Lash out? No, I supplied a list of ‘better to do FIRST’....To restore the Rule of Law, return Freedom to the People and correct over the last 100+yrs. His is an OPTION. IMO, it’s not the best, nor should it be the 1st.
My 1st instinct isn’t, “Let’s throw (taxpayer) $$ at the ‘problem’ (created by govt)”; but throw your lot as you may.
Spending $10 billion to build the wall and a few billion to deport the roaches is chump change compared to the $300 billion or more we spend on illegals each year not to mention the crime, drugs and exotic diseases they bring with them
Getting rid of 11 million socialists is just another plus. Its the mindset we don’t want here.
>Spending $10 billion to build the wall and a few billion to deport the roaches is chump change compared to the $300 billion or more we spend on illegals each year not to mention the crime, drugs and exotic diseases they bring with them
*THE* point being: There are a list of ‘to do’, that cost $ZERO.ZERO, that can/should be done FIRST that would solve MORE ‘problems/issues’ than the $10B wall (and, as with ANY govt estimate, you multiple by 3x, in the least).
>Getting rid of 11 million socialists is just another plus. Its the mindset we don’t want here.
Restoring Liberty and Freedom, IMO, is much better. If we HAD a Constitutional Republic still, the mindset can be handled; and, hopefully, ‘corrected’....by example.
Spending $10 billion one time to save over $300 billion each year is a cheap investment for a monumental savings.
On top of that just enforcing the current immigration laws will rid our country of millions of unwanted illegals.
What do you mean by this?
I am just wondering if we build a heavy concrete wall, wouldn’t it be hard to tunnel under without the danger of the wall collapsing the tunnel?
the two questions are not connected
the metaphorical wall will be created by the Mexican government using the Mexican army with costs to their account. Trump will make an offer they dare not refuse and they will jump at the chance.
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