Trumps wall: Geographic features stand in way

President Donald Trump’s famous wall is going to go the same way that his promise to repeal Obamacare went. It will not be possible to build a wall along the full length of the Rio Grande River.

When Trump stated that he doesn’t read much, apparently he doesn’t read maps much either. Satellite imagery could tell him a lot about the challenges he will face in trying to establish a wall along our border with Mexico.

From El Paso, Texas, to the southeast, he will first encounter the Big Bend National Park with land on both sides of the border and stretching approximately 110 miles through very difficult terrain. In another 450 miles, there are two dams along the Rio Grande at Del Rio and Falcon Heights, Texas, each about 200 miles apart, 50 miles long and 3-5 miles wide with many jagged inlets and channels. The border line runs through the middle of them both.

The Rio Grande itself is a stream with many meanders and oxbows too numerous to count, with private ownership on each bank.

All I can say is good luck with that wall.

This story was originally published April 2, 2017 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Trumps wall: Geographic features stand in way."