Border Wall System Update: 27 Jul 2020

@USBPChief (twitter) ^ | 27 July 2020 | Chief Rodney Scott

[BeauBo]

256 miles completed, 325 miles under construction, 157 miles under pre-construction. (738 Total)

[BeauBo]

Hyper Drive Engaged!

Last week exceeded even the record week prior!

11 Miles Completed!

Also, there was a new start somewhere, as four more miles entered into construction, from the pre-construction phase (I guess around Mission, Texas, where heavy equipment deliveries were recently reported).

It looks like ten miles per week, or more, may now be a sustained rate, rather than some exceptional blip. Last week's ten mile record was a sudden 50% jump in the 6-7 mile per week rate that had seemed stable over the prior couple of months. Speculation is that the Fisher crews in Arizona may be contributing to the surge with their specialized equipment and processes, but other contractors may have deployed more crews.

New crews are adding to the effort, as new contracts are entering their construction phase. There is a tidal wave of new money going on contract this year - roughly double the total of 2017, 2018 and 2019 combined. More crews must still be in the process forming/training/equipping, for those additional new starts, that are already in the pipeline.

This 10-11 miles per week rate is right about what we need to easily meet the announced goal of 450 miles by the end of the year (23 weeks including holidays, 199 miles). It now seems reasonably likely that we will exceed that goal.

[Shark24]

Time to update Ann. :)

[SmokingJoe]

Excellent.

[SteveH]

the transcontinental wall!

thanks for the update!

[LeonardFMason]

EXCELLENT! This CONTINUES to be a winning issue. Emphasize HEALTH and SAFETY for our nation and communities:

BIDEN wants OPEN BORDERS - NO SCREENINGS of any kind
BIDEN wants UNLIMITED Immigration - 50,000,000 to 100,000,000 in the next few years
BIDEN wants to pack our neighborhoods and schools with the children of these immigrants.
Overcrowding at every Suburban School - Quality Education GONE
BIDEN will tax you to give them FREE Healthcare. Hospitals will be overrun.
BIDEN will tax you to give them FREE college educations.

TRUMP wants CONTROLLED and SAFE Immigration.
TRUMP wants Law Abiding Immigrants. NO CRIMINALS.
TRUMP wants HEALTH Screenings at border. We must know the health status of immigrants to PROTECT our communities and SCHOOLS
TRUMP wants to make sure EVERY American wanting a job is hired before we allow immigrants in.

[BeauBo]

Boom time for Border wall construction!

11 miles last week, and 10 the week before, indicate that another big plateau has been reached.

We started the year at about two miles per week, crept upwards gradually, and jumped to a sustained rate of about a mile per day (6-7 miles per week) in May. The last two weeks however, mark another big jump in the rate of construction.

My guess is that Arizona is the big leader now, in new miles per week. Arizona is also rapidly deploying Integrated Fixed Towers, which are going to provide persistent direct surveillance of the entire Arizona (including the Tohono O’odham Nation) - possibly as soon as the end of this year, but if not, then soon after. Arizona is going to experience a radical operational transformation, from the beginning of this year, to the end.

Lots of effective work in California and New Mexico as well, But Arizona is getting the Lion’s Share.

[Captainpaintball]

Subtract that section that got blown over by a twister the other day. A complete joke of a wall. Garbage.

[thinden]

thanx again for reporting this excellent news, beaubo!

seems like only yesterday we cracked thru 200 miles

construction has really ramped up. 10-11 mpg is impressive for this project.

[dhuls]

Usually a good idea to wait for the dust to settle before jumping to conclusions... CBP hasn’t even stated where that section is and whether it was new construction that wasn’t entirely set. I would wait and see.

[little jeremiah]

Thank you for the updates. Yesterday there was a video of part of wall segment blown over by winds from the hurricane. It looks as though that part was still under construction. Do you have any info on that incident?

[little jeremiah]

I hadn’t seen your comment when I asked about that. In the short video I saw it looked as though that part was still under construction.

Joke of a wall? Have you been reading these updates with details about the construction of the wall?

[BeauBo]

“Subtract that section that got blown over by a twister the other day.”

Folks on twitter were posting a video clip of some of the wall panels getting blown over, claiming that it occurred over this last weekend, as Hurricane Hannah blew through the Rio Grande Valley Sector:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1287498958735015943

That is obviously not the case however, as the video is during daytime, and the hurricane went through during the night. Also the vegetation is obviously desert out West, and not the lush vegetation of the sub-tropical Rio Grande Valley area. It looks like a clip from out West, sometime before the monsoon rains started.

https://www.caller.com/story/news/local/texas/state-bureau/2020/07/26/hurricane-hanna-trump-border-wall-damage-rio-grande-valley-texas/5516199002/

Bottom Line: Until the concrete sets, that day’s work is vulnerable to high winds. After it has set for a day or two, it will stand for a century. You don’t want the concrete to harden quickly, because then it won’t reach its full hardness. It is kept wet to cure for a longer period, to meet the specified finished hardness.

The foundations for those bollards are massive, beyond what is needed just to stabilize the bollards, to also harden the barrier against casual tunnelling efforts - at least eight feet deep, and two feet thick, of steel reinforced, high strength concrete.

At 11 miles per week (over 7,000 of those eight foot wide panels), they will quickly make up for any weather setbacks.

[BeauBo]

“Yesterday there was a video of part of wall segment blown over by winds from the hurricane.”

See Post 12.

Doesn’t look like it was from the Hurricane - another time and place.

Bottom Line: Its trivial when bad weather occasionally sets us back a few panels. They are planting over 7,000 panels a week. Safety is the main concern with this, rather than meeting deadlines, or adequacy of the design.

Weather is just a normal part of construction.

[thinden]

“Yesterday there was a video of part of wall segment blown over by winds from the hurricane.”

See Post 12.

Doesn’t look like it was from the Hurricane - another time and place.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

smells like some lazy news service borrowed from getty archives (or some other similar source) to find a picture to sensationalize a wall failure??

fake news.

[little jeremiah]

Thank you very much for reply. It didn’t look serious to me, just figured you’d know.

[little jeremiah]

Exactly!

[BeauBo]

“Time to update Ann.”

...to a better model.

[BeauBo]

“seems like only yesterday we cracked thru 200 miles”

Eve the 100 mile threshold was just this year (only about half over).

This is the real full scale deployment - and the technology rollout is surging along with it. Few people are ready for it - the effects will likely shock many.

The media only has about 100 more days to hide and downplay (or outright lie about) the effects before the election, but those operational effects will mount inexorably.

We are going to be living with a greatly fortified border next year and beyond.

[Shark24]

I’ve always been partial to “Caprica 6” from BSG. I liked her for the articles. :)

[BeauBo]

"I’ve always been partial to “Caprica 6” from BSG."

Caprica 6 is more like a ten in my book. Cylons are too modest.