Workers from Hat Maker Fence of Waverly, Tenn., from left, Eric Dion, Jeff Carpenter and Herbert Conley install metal fence posts along Halls Ferry Road at the Army Engineer Research and Development Center Friday.(C. Todd Sherman The Vicksburg Post)

[6/28/03]The fence on either side of the main gate in front of the administration building at the Army Engineer Research and Development Center will soon look better and give more protection from intruders.

The work, said Bill Roth, ERDC chief of security, is part of the process to upgrade security at the sprawling Corps of Engineers research station on Halls Ferry Road in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Linda McGowan said the fence will look like wrought iron but actually will be of another type of metal construction.

“It will be seven- or eight-feet tall,” Roth said. “It won’t have barbed wire on top, but it will have spikes to discourage climbing over.”

In addition to stronger posts and the heavy metal, the fence will be reinforced with a heavy steel cable running the length of the new fencing to make it stronger and more able to withstand someone trying to drive through it.

The new fencing is about 400 feet long and has new, taller sections of chain link fencing on either end.

Roth said the new fence is the next part of the security upgrade that began with the temporary closing of the main gate so a hydraulic security barrier and other enhancements could be installed.

McGowan said a new gate that is made from the same materials as the new front fence will be installed soon on Gate 6 on Bazinsky Road along with a new, bullet resistant guard house.

Roth said he expects the work to be completed by July 14, depending on the weather and the contractor’s schedule.