We are back on the ten mile per week pace, after a short (4 mile) week the before that, apparently from the Labor Day holiday weekend.
Posted on 09/21/2020 9:13:18 AM PDT by BeauBo
331 miles completed, 250 miles under construction, 157 miles under pre-construction (738 Total).
(Excerpt) Read more at twitter.com ...
We are back on the ten mile per week pace, after a short (4 mile) week the before that, apparently from the Labor Day holiday weekend.
Or, is she too busy swallowing...
her pride?
FYI, back on pace.
250 miles under construction is a tremendous undertsking.
are the existing contractors hiring on to their crews?
where can they source enough experienced skilled help?
thanx again for keeping us updated on the wall
More WINNING!!
Thanks for the update/s!
Continue to be pleased with progress.
Thanks for the updates. Great to see the progress. Being ‘a picture is worth a 100 words’ guy, I wish there was a good map visual of where this is all distributed with the old wall, the new wall, under construction, pre-construction, etc all color coded somehow so one can visualize the tremendous progress and see where the future holes that need to be filled are.
Something I noticed early on was the 738 miles those three
numbers add up to. As the miles of completion and
construction grew, that number under pre-construction
didn’t grow. We’re still looking at 738 miles total.
When are they going to start growing that pre-construction
number?
That number has been static for what, a year or more?
I’d like to see that number start growing.
The entire border does not require a wall.
Bttt.
5.56mm
Yes, I’ve been hearing the leading Democrats and RINOs
saying the same thing since the 90s.
While I agree to a point, 738 miles is not the figure
I had in mind. I doubt it is yours either.
“I wish there was a good map visual of where this is all distributed”
The authoritative source is Customs and Border Protection (or the Army Corps of Engineers who contract the effort for them).
CBP’s web page for the wall is here: https://www.cbp.gov/border-security/along-us-borders/border-wall-system
They have a map there, but a lot of the drill down information that was enabled early on, has been disabled. It is a good “big picture” of the Program, but it does not show progress - just the top level plan.
“We’re still looking at 738 miles total. When are they going to start growing that pre-construction
number?”
That would require more money.
The 738 miles is the current Program of Record. The money for those miles has been transferred into the accounts of the Army Corps of Engineers for contracting, dedicated to this Program.
An additional $3.6 Billion from the FY2020 Military Construction (MILCON) Budget has been discussed, but was not formally transferred. It still might be at some point, but it would have to be under the authority of the Presidential Emergency Declaration (like the other $3.6 Billion of the previous year’s FY2019 MILCON was), and it would have to be painfully pulled from other approved Military Construction Projects. There are also still legal challenges working through the courts, over this Emergency diversion of MILCON money.
If the rest of the MILCON money (FY20) is diverted to the Wall, the total Program mileage would go to about 885.
I am thinking that there was a lot of wheeling and dealing going on behind the scenes, to get the already diverted FY 2019 MILCON backfilled by Congress. It may be (seems to be) that the Congress agreed to backfill those Projects that got raided for funds, if the Administration would hold off on the 2020 diversion.
Those last ~147 miles (the difference between 738 and 885) would be the lowest on the priority list, so they make the least difference in controlling the border. Meanwhile, the new Technology Programs now rolling out are proving to be effective in controlling border areas that lack barrier, so the operational effects of delay are further mitigated by the many layers of powerful new technology, already surging to the Border.
There is about $1.4 billion per year now in the baseline budget for additional barrier - so that is roughly enough to build out those last 147 miles over two years, instead of in just one year from diverting the MILCON. Not really a showstopper, but it would protect dozens of Military Construction Projects.
Quite possibly, any deals are just through the election, and new calculations will be made once the election results are known.
Things are in flux, but I’d guess that 738 miles Total will hold through the election.
Thanks for the mention.
I agree with your conclusion.
Look, all of this is said appreciating very much what hss
already been done, and in the works. We wouldn’t have
had any of it without Trump.
738 is clearly a great start.
“738 miles is not the figure I had in mind.”
A lot of analysis went into structuring the Program, to achieve the top line metric that matters - Full Operational Control of the Southern Border.
On President Trump’s fifth day in office, he signed Executive Order 13767, directing DHS to start work on the Border Wall, and to develop a Comprehensive Plan for Full Operational Control of that Border.
After every green eye shade activity in the Federal budget community (CBO, OMB) threw every “what if” they could dream up at the Plan, Congress finally accepted it in December 2018.
The results were a requirement for $25 Billion over five years, 1,100 miles of barrier, thousands of new full time positions, and several large Technology Programs.
221 miles of pre-existing barrier (essentially, the bollards) has been assessed as operationally effective. If that is subtracted from the 1,100 mile requirement, then we are almost exactly at the 885 miles, for which the Trump Administration identified funding.
There is some variation between budgeted and actual costs, but it seems clear that President Trump had a professional plan developed, and arranged full funding for it, early enough in his first term to get it all contracted. Professionally and strategically executed.
I don’t know how much of the 157 miles that remains in Pre-construction is still awaiting contract award, or how much has been awarded, but is waiting on other lead time activities, like land acquisition by the Government, or staging and preparation by the Contractors.
I anticipate that the Trump Administration has a plan to complete all contracting and land acquisition for those 738 miles before Inauguration Day, and are monitoring progress regularly. Anyone who fails to perform gets fired.
President Trump did not just fall off the Turnip Truck last night. He is a World Class, hands-on Real Estate Developer - this is his wheelhouse. The Program is in very good hands.
Another possibility, is that the Trump Administration is simply delaying the diversion of last $3.6 Billion in MILCON funds, until after the election - due to electoral concerns.
The first diversion from MILCON Projects was heavily drawn from overseas projects. A big second bite from that account would likely bite into a lot more projects at home.
“where can they source enough experienced skilled help?”
The contractors were carefully pre-screened before they were allowed to bid on these contracts. They had to prove that they had the capability to execute projects like this, including staffing capability.
The skills are general heavy construction skills - concrete foundations, backhoe trenching, operating cranes, road building.
In rural areas, the workers need life support (Man Camps of house trailers, food service) as well.
Overall, we are talking about a few thousand workers. It is the single biggest construction Program in the USA right now, but still a small percentage of the construction industry.
You just can’t get any closer to Mexico than this job, if you need to hire a few Mexicans to help out...
are any other countries copying this border wall technology?
what is currently the canada border situation wrt border walls?
thanx very much for the color
it is truly an amazing project to witness
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