Posted on 06/28/2019 6:14:08 PM PDT by BeauBo
The installation of 11 new miles of border wall began on Thursday in Calexico, California.
The project includes the construction of 30-foot tall steel bollards and what the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency says are technology improvements... The construction start for this project was announced earlier this month, along with the new border wall project in Tecate, California.
Construction for both of these projects, which total approximately 15 miles, is anticipated to continue into 2020 and are funded under a 2018 appropriation separate from President Trump's National Emergency Declaration.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox5ny.com ...
The politics will work against him. Seems like all contracts are going to populated areas with 30 ft walls with slow construction and high costs.
NM border west of Sunland/Santa Teresa is flat and ranchland. Let Fisher scream through New Mexico and flat eastern part of AZ until the mountains.
Trump is fighting to get crumbs. Dollars may be exhausted well before election with only high cost wall.
Where do ya see a ramp? And why in hell would they build a ramp leading up to the wall? I think what you're looking at is called a "Brace".
Where is that crowd who assured all the wall would never be built?
“It’s so hard to get a clear picture of how much...”
40 miles worth were appropriated in FY 2017 are now done (14 mile San Diego Primary, 4 miles downtown El Paso, 2 miles in Calexico, and 20 miles running West from El Paso. All had some kind of previous barrier that was so ineffective, that they were among the most heavily crossed/trafficked areas.
80 miles were appropriated for FY 2018, and they are now starting construction. That includes the first segments where there was no barrier previously (~25 miles in the Rio Grande Valley).
Congress appropriated money for 55 more miles in the Rio Grande Valley for FY 2019, where basically none existed before. The President then declared an emergency, and identified about $8 billion - enough to build a few hundred miles (but did not specify where, like appropriations do). The first of those projects (Yuma, AZ; and a 46 mile run in New Mexico, continuing the piece built West from El Paso) are ready to break ground, but pending some legal rulings.
Altogether, the Border Patrol/DHS plan for full operational control of the border calls for about 1,100 miles of barrier (mostly replacement), thousands of additional personnel, and several technology programs - $25 billion over five years.
Barrier is being installed by priority - where it will make the biggest difference. Most of those areas have always been hot spots (e.g. border cities), and had some kind of barrier. The main area that needs barrier but has none are the Rio Grande Valley and Laredo areas of South Texas, where many factors made it much more difficult (changing river path, ratified International Treaty, flood control, many small property holders, and not included in the Roosevelt Reservation for Federal use). They need about 150 miles total, about half of which was appropriated between 2018 and 2019.
The bottom line is that the first 100 miles on the priority list will make a dramatically larger impact on traffic flows, than will the last 100 miles on the list. The Trump Administration is seeking to get about 400-500 miles worth built or on contract by the 2020 election, which would button up where the bulk of traffic now passes.
(Another) Bottom Line is that we started off slow while all the plans and prep were underway, but this year are entering full scale deployment. If the money is freed up from the lawsuits, we should be approaching a total rate of around a half mile of new barrier per day by the end of the year.
The most important miles first, with top of the line wall system (barrier, patrol road, lights, cameras, sensors, alarms).
bookmark
Good information, BeauBo. Thanks.
“NM border west of Sunland/Santa Teresa is flat and ranchland.”
20 miles from Mount Christo Rey, through Sunland and the Santa Teresa Port of Entry; were one of the first segments completed under the Trump Administration.
Among the first Billion dollars re-programmed from the Military budget this year (Drug control program funds, not the more controversial Military Construction funds), is 46 more miles extending that effective barrier West, past the Columbus Port of Entry.
Those segments have been delayed with some legal issues, but they seem likely to start work in the next few months.
If (more like when) the President gets to spend the full $8.1 billion he identified under his emergency declaration, will will be sincerely off to the races building barrier. That is four times what he got in 2017 and 2018 combined.
Because the border patrol agents who specified what would work best and the Army Corps of Engineers would never have thought of something like that?
Thank you for your uptdates.
Are you in that area?
The panels are put in place, have to be supported in place until cement work and welding is complete. It takes several different things to support the panels while they are being secured.
“how far inside the USA the wall is being constructed?”
Mostly just a few feet inside the USA - The big exception to where the wall is constructed, are the flood control issues in the Rio Grande Valley and Laredo areas in Southern Texas.
They not only get seasonal flooding and changes to the river’s path, but they are also subject to hurricanes from the Gulf of Mexico. The location of barrier there is further complicated by the International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC), created under ratified treaty to manage the river as border, and flood control planning/approval.
Down there, the terrain and hydrology can force the barrier to be up to a mile or more inside the USA - basically, it is being built down there as massive concrete FEMA Hurricane rated flood control levee, with added bollards and patrol road.
Down there, costs are the very highest. Among those costs, are the landowners on the South side of the levees. Some refuse to sell to the Government, and then must be accommodated for access with gates or gaps.
Fisher is one of the contractors bidding on wall sections.
Steel bollards are just wall rebar.
A future President shall encase the steel with rock and concrete for a real wall.
What? No alligator moat? I’m disappointed.
“Steel bollards are just wall rebar.”
Border Patrol greatly values the see-through capability for early warning, and keeping people away from the barrier, so they have little time to climb, breach or tunnel.
Have you been down the border in the bootheel? Does not sound like you have. It is not all flat easy to build. There isn’t even currently a road of any kind on most of it to get equipment and material in there.
If I had to guess... intentional.
What populated areas? The sections to be built/currently being built in TX,NM,AZ are not going through populated areas by any stretch.
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