TUCSON — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials plan to build or replace more than 91 miles of border barriers along the Arizona-Mexico border in one of the largest expansions of border wall construction in the state.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, waived a series of federal laws to speed up construction in all four Arizona border counties and opened a month-long period for the public to submit comments on the planned construction projects.

CBP issued an advisory Monday detailing the 91.5 miles where construction will take place.

In the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector: 32 miles in Cochise County, 15 miles in Pima County and 27 miles in Santa Cruz County. In the Yuma Sector: 17.5 miles in Yuma County and Imperial County, California.

The new bollard fencing going up will measure 30 feet in height and will be built as part of a system.

"The projects also include the installation of a linear ground detection system, road construction or refurbishment, and the installation of lighting, which will be supported by grid power and include embedded cameras," the agency said.

Customs and Border Protection provided few details in Monday's advisory about the latest rounds of border wall construction.

DHS published a notice on Monday in the Federal Register waiving 37 environmental and cultural laws to expedite construction of the 91.5 miles in Arizona, plus 86 miles along other parts of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The notice, dated from March 11 and signed by acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, cited "high levels of illegal entry of people and drugs" through Cochise, Santa Cruz, Pima and Yuma counties as the reason to speed up construction, under the authority of the Real ID Act of 2005.

The federal government said existing barriers are inadequate because of "a complete absence of barrier or ineffective primary or secondary fencing," the waiver notice said.

To date, the agency hasn't said how much the 91.5 miles of border wall construction in Arizona will cost and where the money will come from. They also haven't awarded any contracts for the projects.

"CBP is seeking information and data on potential impacts to the environment, culture, quality of life, and commerce, including potential socioeconomic impacts, for the communities located near the sites where the border barrier is to be constructed. Information received will inform the review of environmental impacts for the projects," CBP said in the advisory.

The deadline to submit comments to TucsonComments@cbp.dhs.gov for the Tucson Sector projects and to YumaComments@cbp.dhs.gov for the Yuma Sector projects is April 15.

The projects are separate from the ongoing construction of 63 miles of fencing taking place in Cochise and Pima counties, including in sensitive areas such as the San Pedro River and Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.

That construction has touched off a furor over the fencing's impact on natural resources and cultural sites of significance to Native Americans.

Work is also underway to build another 38 miles of fencing in Yuma County and around the cities of San Luis and Yuma.

The Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity challenged in federal court the Trump administration's ability to waive certain laws to speed up border wall construction. They criticized the latest waivers.

“The Border Patrol decided years ago that border walls weren’t needed in these remote areas,” said Randy Serraglio, a conservation advocate for the group. “It would be incredibly expensive and an engineering nightmare, and there’s no justification in terms of border security. Sacrificing the wildlife and living landscapes of the borderlands for Trump’s vanity wall is criminal.”

Cochise County

In Cochise County, CBP officials said they will replace 24 miles of existing primary barriers with 30-foot bollards, replace about one mile of secondary fencing, and build seven miles of new fencing in six non-contiguous sections of the county's border with Mexico.

According to maps published by CBP, the largest section in Cochise County will be a 14.5-miles replacement project in the areas between the border cities of Naco and Douglas.

Another 8.7 miles of replacement fencing is planned east of the San Pedro River, where crews are working to replace vehicle barriers with new bollards on the floodplain, despite concerns from environmentalists that the new barriers could essentially dam the river during rainy periods.

An additional 0.8 miles of replacement fencing will go east of Douglas, where crews are replacing about 19 miles of aging fencing with the 30-foot bollards, including in the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge.

New barrier construction will take place in two other sections: a two-mile stretch south of Sierra Vista, along the Coronado National Monument, and another 4.7 miles on the far eastern end of the county, along the state line with New Mexico.

The last of the six portions is an 0.8 mile stretch of secondary fencing in the community of Naco. Crews will replace that with the bollards.

Santa Cruz County

In Santa Cruz, the smallest of Arizona's four border counties, construction will take place in three segments on both sides of Nogales. There is no ongoing construction in the county, but these projects would alter what most of the county's border with Mexico looks like.

CBP plans to build 25 miles of 30-foot bollards and two replace two additional miles of primary fencing and vehicle barriers with bollards.

The largest stretch, 21 miles of bollards, will go west of Nogales to the county line with Pima, along the Pajarito wilderness, a rugged mountainous area in the Coronado National Forest.

An additional two miles of replacement fencing will connect those 21 miles with the Nogales city limits, just beyond the Mariposa border crossing, according to CBP maps.

The remaining 4.1 miles of planned construction are at the Coronado National Forest but in the section located east of Nogales near the Patagonia Mountains.

Pima County

In Pima County, construction of roughly 15 miles of new bollard fencing will take place in five non-contiguous segments in and around the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.

The area saw a rise last year in large groups of migrants who simply walked around existing fencing near the Sasabe port of entry and turned themselves in to border agents.

According to CBP maps, crews will replace seven miles of outdated primary fencing in and around the Sasabe border crossing with 30-foot bollards.

Three additional segments measuring 5.7 miles will go east of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge and connect to the 21-mile stretch of fencing going up in Santa Cruz.

Another 2.4-mile segment of barriers will extend farther east to the Tohono O'Odham Nation.

The Nation's 62 miles of international boundary with Mexico has vehicle barriers, but the tribe has not allowed the federal government to build border barriers.

Yuma County

In Yuma County, CBP plans to replace seven miles of vehicle barriers with 30-foot bollards as well as about 10 miles of secondary fencing in four non-contiguous segments.

The largest segment will be the replacement of 8.9 miles of existing wire-mesh secondary fencing with bollard fencing, starting from the Colorado River and extending east past San Luis and the commercial port of entry.

Another section will run for 6.8 miles along the Colorado River, where it forms the international boundary with Mexico. Bollards will replace existing vehicle barriers along the Cocopah Indian Reservation, according to CBP maps.

The other two sections are not in Arizona but fall within the jurisdiction of Border Patrol's Yuma Sector.

The project includes 0.6 miles of replacement bollard fencing surrounding the Andrade port of entry in California that will stretch to the Colorado River. Another small portion, measuring 0.9 miles, will add secondary fencing on both sides of the Andrade border crossing.

To date, Yuma has been the most active area of border wall construction in Arizona.

Crews completed in 2019 the replacement of 22 miles of 30-foot bollards along San Luis and San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico binational urban area. It was the first wall project completed in Arizona under Trump.

Construction is underway on three other segments totaling about 38 miles. The segments include a five-mile stretch of replacement fencing along the Colorado River south of the Morelos Dam. That project will connect with the new section along the Cocopah Indian Reservation.

Crews began building 31 miles of secondary fencing in the desert east of San Luis. They are working concurrently on replacing 1.55 miles of wire-mesh fencing with bollards west of San Luis.

Have any news tips or story ideas about the U.S.-Mexico border? Reach the reporter at rafael.carranza@arizonarepublic.com, or follow him on Twitter at @RafaelCarranza.

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