200 miles of border barriers being erected

Organ Pipe fencing cost government $14 million to build
ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN
Published: 05.04.2007
Photo by the Associated Press

Two hundred miles of vehicle barriers made of concrete, steel poles and train tracks are being erected across the Southwestern desert to thwart smugglers trying to bring illegal immigrants or drugs into the country in vans, sport utility vehicles and trucks.

Smugglers commonly drive people and marijuana over the Mexican border, using roads that have been illegally cut across remote sections of the vast desert.

Authorities concede the vehicle barriers won't deter people on foot, whether illegal immigrants or backpacking drug runners. But the obstacles might slow them down and make them easier to catch as they hike across miles of rocky, hilly terrain.

The building of the barriers is being overseen by a combination of federal agencies at a total cost of tens of millions of dollars.

The obstructions include bollards, or concrete-filled steel poles poking out of the ground at staggered heights; railroad rails welded horizontally onto concrete-reinforced steel posts; and X-shaped rail barricades weighing up to 1,400 pounds.