Posted on 08/17/2018 8:28:36 AM PDT by BeauBo
One mile every 11 days. We’ll be on the 3rd generation of current illegals by the time that’s finished.
Correct. I saw that picture before construction had even started.
The wun proclaimed something about an intercontinental railroad.
About the same time as he remarked about corpse-men.
Having climbed ladders in the construction trades for the last forty years, I can assure you that most people will NOT just up and walk away from an 18 foot fall.
That's the height of an average two story house. A fall from that height will result in major, life changing injuries, if not death. A fall from less than half that height, can result in serious fractures and broken bones.
The mine field signs must be out of view or they haven’t been placed yet.
It’s not tall enough and a grappling hook is all that’s needed to scale it.
Yup. Almost worthless.
I wouldn’t say worthless, certainly better than a 3-strand barb wire fence, but without some other layers like camera’s or patrols, a determined climber would bound over this without too much difficulty. Just need some rope or even a ladder.
I thought it might be fun to invoke some memories, but I think the RR built a lot of miles/day of essentially temporary track where the going was flat and easy.
A cutting torch would allow easy access through the unpatrolled fence.
“One mile every 11 days.”
That is just one team, on one contract. Two other teams are currently building in San Diego, and Calexico California.
Due to the easy terrain and the type of barrier they are putting in, this one in New Mexico is moving the fastest of the three.
Bottom Line: We will get about 100 miles of very strong barrier out of the last funding bill (Omnibus for FY18), where it is needed most.
The biggest and most important segment of that (33 miles in the Rio Grande Valley) has not been contracted yet (after Christmas).
It depends on the Politics, but I guess that we will get 200 miles funded in next year’s appropriation. Three hundred total miles (with patrol roads, lights, cameras and alarms - like we are now building) in the highest traffic areas will make a big difference.
The people who fall from the 18 foot bollards are generally not standing on top, but rather hanging on with their hands. Their feet are more like 12 feet above the ground - several feet lower if they are defeated by anti-climb plates. Often the “fall” is a semi-controlled slide down the bollards.
The result is that it is rare that Border Patrol has to recover a broken body or medevac a jumper by helicopter. The thirty foot ones are a real monster though.
Kids like to climb on the 18 footers for fun, up to where the plates start. Without the plates, a typical (but daring) teenage boy can climb the 18 footers (they basically stop women and children). 30 footers deter most boys/men from trying. With a good anti-climb obstacle on top, 30 footers will effectively stop men.
Less now!
Less now!
Less now!
“without some other layers like camera’s or patrols, a determined climber would... Just need some rope or even a ladder.”
With ropes and ladders, mankind has climbed Mount Everest. We can feasibly design barrier to defeat free climbers though, and also defeat the attempts of common men with common tools to go under or through the barrier. Additional obstacles on top (like barrel tops, or concertina) could make ladders and ropes more challenging as well.
The bollard barriers they are putting in now do come with all weather patrol road, cameras, sensors, and lights in the urban areas. In practice, they have found this combination very effective in reducing crossing attempts (better than 95%), and improving detection and apprehension rates among the remaining smaller flow.
The 18 foot bollards (with anti-climb plate) are harder to get over (they effectively stop women and children) - but they are even harder to get under or through.
Kids could dig away enough dirt to slide under the old landing mats in just a few minutes. With the bollards, solid concrete foundations are at least six foot deep, and you would be in plain sight while trying to dig within fifty feet of barrier.
Landing mat could be breached with crowbars, sledgehammers or battery powered tools. The bollards are heavy steel (stronger than lamp posts on Interstates), but they are also filled with high strength concrete and rebar. They are strong enough to stop a speeding dump truck attempting to ram through, and are highly blast resistant. They take longer to breach even using heavier tools/equipment, and breaches are easy to spot/hard to hide.
one panel at a time
“I still really don’t like that design. The vertical posts make it all too easy to climb.”
“It looks to me a simple grappling hook would make it very easy to go over the top. I would rather they used a large rounded top”.
The current funding (2018 Omnibus) limited designs to those previously proven, which includes the 18 - 30 foot bollards, and anti-climb plates that we are seeing. They were the most effective designs deployed so far. In fact, they work very well, but are not perfect.
Hopefully, the new budget they are working on for next year, will at least allow the big round barrel tops, that tested so well on the prototypes.
30 foot bollards with a 5 or 6 foot barrel top would require specialized skills and equipment - basically no more migrants at all, only the occasional drug cartel.
The new barriers going in now also include wide clearances which are alarmed and under camera surveillance, with good patrol road to speed enforcement response. As the barriers get harder, they also have less time to get past them.
Thanks for the post / clarifications.
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