The third U.S. border-wall construction project started today in San Diego just east of Border Field State Park.
The construction project will replace approximately 14 miles of eight- to 10-foot-high scrap metal wall with an 18-to-30-foot bollard-style wall topped off with an anti-climbing plate. The project begins approximately one-half mile from the Pacific Ocean coastline and extends eastward to the base of Otay Mountain in East County San Diego. The $147 million contract for this project was awarded to SLSCO, a Texas-based construction corporation.
The San Diego Sector wall construction is one of Border Patrol’s top priority projects. Wall in this area was built in the 1990s out of recycled scraps of metal and old landing mat steel plates left over from the Vietnam era. This eight- to-10-feet high wall was intended to aid in re-establishing the border and aided in preventing both pedestrian and vehicle crossings. Although the existing wall was proven effective, the cross-border threat has increased and the several decades old corrugated steel landing mat is in need of replacement with a higher performing design.
The other two border wall projects currently in progress include two miles of primary wall in Calexico, Calif., and 20 miles of new border wall in Santa Teresa, N.M.
