Companies selected to build border wall prototypes

By |  September 1, 2017

Photo by Mitchell Haindfield (Foter.com)

Although the U.S. Congress has not approved funding for a border wall between the United States and Mexico, the Trump administration has selected four companies to build concrete prototypes.

The Washington Post reports that the prototypes will be built in San Diego, and the four companies chosen to do the work are Caddell Construction of Montgomery, Alabama; Texas Sterling Construction of Houston; W.G. Yates & Sons Construction of Philadelphia, Mississippi.; and aggregate producer Fisher Sand & Gravel (DBA Fisher Industries of Tempe, Arizona).

Each of the four contracts is worth between $400,000 and $500,000, and according to Ronald Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, four more contracts for non-concrete prototypes will be announced next week.

The Washington Post reports the concrete prototypes will be 30 ft. long and up to 30 ft. high, and should be complete in about six weeks. Officials will then use small hand tools to test the prototypes’ resistance to tampering and penetration.

The companies selected to build the prototypes are not necessarily the ones that will be picked to build the wall, an agency official says. Another bidding process would ensue if funding was approved for the wall itself.

Thomas Fisher, president of Fisher Sand & Gravel, says the company is “excited and grateful” to participate in the wall project. The company is headquartered in Dickinson, North Dakota, but has operations in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California.

The U.S. House of Representatives in July approved $1.6 billion in border wall funding for 2018, but the Senate will likely block it in September, says The Washington Post. The president has threatened to shut down the government if Congress does not agree to fund the wall.

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About the Author:

Darren Constantino is an editor of Pit & Quarry magazine. He can be reached at dconstantino@northcoastmedia.net.

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