$1B awarded for border fencing

PHOENIX — The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded contracts totaling nearly $1 billion for removal and replacement of vehicle fencing with pedestrian fencing along two sections of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Corps of Engineers said in a statement Wednesday that 46 miles of bollard-style barrier will be installed near Columbus, N.M., and 11 miles of bollard-type barrier will be installed in a Border Patrol sector centered on Yuma, Ariz.

The statement said SLSCo. of Galveston, Texas, received a $789 million contract for the New Mexico work and that Barnard Construction Co. Inc. of Bozeman, Mont., was awarded a $187 million contract for the other work.

The Corps said the fencing will help “impede and deny illegal border crossings and smuggling of drugs and humans.