tucson.com by Curt Prendergast Jul 19, 2020
Contractor building $1.3B border wall in Southern Arizona is accused of shoddy work in Texas
While the firm builds in mountains and ravines in Arizona, the foundation of a previous wall project in Texas is eroding
he contractor building the border wall in Southern Arizona’s toughest terrain is facing accusations of shoddy work in Texas, adding questions about the company’s competency on top of an ongoing probe into whether it received building contracts after an improper push by President Trump.
Fisher Sand and Gravel started building the 30-foot-tall border wall earlier this month near Sasabe, a small border town about 70 miles southwest of Tucson. Over the next two years, the wall will cut across mountains, steep ravines and washes for nearly 40 miles to Nogales.
It is expected to cost taxpayers about $1.3 billion.
The terrain along this stretch of Arizona’s border with Sonora is far more challenging than other border wall projects in the state, most of which have taken place on relatively flat terrain.
The wall projects in Arizona include steel poles, known as bollards, topped with anti-climbing plates. Ground sensors and lighting will be added at a later date. The 6-inch wide bollards are filled with concrete and separated from each other by 4 inches of space, which allows Border Patrol agents to see activity on the Mexico side of the border. Federal officials plan to build 137 miles of wall near Tucson at a cost of more than $3 billion. So far, about 50 miles of new wall have been built, mostly to replace bollard fencing 15- to 18-feet tall or head-high vehicle barriers.
More:
https://tucson.com/news/local/contractor-building-1-3b-border-wall-in-southern-arizona-is-accused-of-shoddy-work-in/article_13f72412-f0aa-5313-985c-a8e2ee8b142f.html
