Border wall project starts in Yuma
TUCSON — Construction is underway to replace five miles of vehicle barriers with 30-foot bollards along the Colorado River west of Yuma in an area that has been used extensively by asylum-seeking migrants to cross the U.S.Mexico border largely unimpeded.
This is the second ongoing border wall replacement project in the Yuma area.
Already, crews have replaced more than 11 miles of aging landing mat fencing with the 30-foot bollards east of the border city of San Luis.
The replacement of this five-mile stretch along the Colorado River is the second project along the Arizona border that is being paid for using diverted military funds. Three weeks ago, construction began on a separate, military-funded project east of Lukeville.
Workers with BFBC LLC, an affiliate of Barnard Construction Company of Bozeman, Montana, broke ground late last week under a $141.7 million contract. The first panels of the new 30-foot bollards have already gone up, according to the U.S. Border Patrol in the Yuma Sector.
The project will replace existing the vehicle barriers — located above the banks of the low-water Colorado River — starting from the Morelos Dam and extending south five miles to the area near County 12th Street.
“We’re now replacing the vehicle barriers that were out there. There has historically never been a wall, and we’re now putting up the 30-foot wall in place,” said Jose Garibay, spokesman for the Border Patrol’s Yuma Sector.
Construction began along the middle portion of the five-mile stretch, approximately around County 10th Street, Garibay added, and will move in opposing directions in the coming weeks. The project is scheduled to be completed by December.
Last Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted a video showing images of the start of the replacement project in Yuma, asserting that there would be close to 500 miles of new and replacement fencing along the border by the end of 2020.
The images from Yuma show a bulldozer hoisting the first 30-foot panel along the area once delineated by vehicle barriers, with the Colorado River and agricultural fields from Mexico in the background.
“Were taking money from all over . ... But the military has stepped up and they’ve done a fantastic job,” Trump said as the aerial drone video of the Arizona construction site played.
The money for the Yuma project comes from a $2.5 billion pot of money that the U.S. Department of Defense redirected towards border wall construc