Nearly $1B in contracts awarded for border fence sections

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U.S. border agencies continued to fortify the fence with razor wire and additional personnel as members of the migrant caravan arrived to Tijuana across the border from San Diego. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

PHOENIX (AP) - 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 (74 kilometers) of bollard-style barrier will be installed near Columbus, New Mexico and 11 miles (18 kilometers) of bollard-type barrier will be installed in a Border Patrol sector centered on Yuma, Arizona.

The statement said SLSCo. of Galveston, Texas, got a $789 million contract for the New Mexico work and that Barnard Construction Co. Inc., of Bozeman, Montana, 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.