WALL6

Your tax $$$ at work: RFP issued for $30-billion spite fence

11 thoughts on “Your tax $$$ at work: RFP issued for $30-billion spite fence

  1. Despite the desire to make the wall imposing, Homeland Security officials also want to ensure that the structure isn’t too hard on the eyes, at least from the American side.

    “The north side of wall (i.e. US-facing side) shall be aesthetically pleasing in color, anti-climb texture, etc., to be consistent with general surrounding environment,” the proposal said.

    Here's |link| to the FedBizOpp.gov solicitation. The link to the RFP itself is, like this whole idea, fucked.

  2. Also, he's a fucking idiot- if there's anything the East Germans taught us, two walls on the side you control separated by about 100 meters, guys in watch towers with guns, that's the way to do it. This administration is a bunch of fucking amateurs (I hope)

  3. To address concerns that drug cartels or others may just tunnel underneath the wall, the proposals ask for designs that “prevent digging or tunneling below it for a minimum of six feet below the lowest adjacent grade.”

    Pretty sure people will manage to dig eight feet below the surface, unless there is some geological issue of which I'm not aware that would prevent them from doing so.

    Despite the desire to make the wall imposing, Homeland Security officials also want to ensure that the structure isn’t too hard on the eyes, at least from the American side.

    “The north side of wall (i.e. U.S. facing side) shall be aesthetically pleasing in color, anti-climb texture, etc., to be consistent with general surrounding environment,” the proposal said.

    Have a go at it, street artists!

  4. If you can find a way to invest in concrete or cement futures, this is your moment. The title of the solicitation is for a "solid concrete border wall." It's to be 30' high in some places, 20' in others. So let's do some quantity takeoffs!

    Length of US-Messican border = 1,951 miles or about 10,300,000 lineal feet. With an average height of 25' and a thickness of a generously-underestimated 2', the volume of concrete for the wall is 515,000,000 cubic feet, or about 19,000,000 cubic yards.

    It's going to need a footing, which we'll estimate at 6' wide by a modest 3' deep. This would take 6,870,000 cubic yards.

    So we're at a total of 25,850,000 cubic yards of concrete, not counting pilasters, guard towers, the access road, etc. One cubic yard of concrete weighs about 3,600 pounds or about 1.8 tons. So the entire project requires 46,530,000 tons of concrete, which is quite a bit, probably more than annual US production. Rebar steel might be a good investment now too.

    I'm sure glass will check my work.

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