Construction Booming At Fort Bliss

FORT BLISS, Texas — The plans are finally becoming reality at Fort Bliss ahead of the arrival of thousands of new troops.

Fort Bliss Garrison Commander Ed Manning said things are moving fast and the clock is ticking. He said all of the construction on post is like “building an airplane in flight.”

“Fort Bliss is the centerpiece for the Army,” Manning said. And like any centerpiece, you shell out a little extra to spruce it up.

“Some of our buildings are quite old at Fort Bliss, built in the ’40s, ’50s, etc., and they need some TLC.”

With tens of thousands of soldiers headed our way in 2011, 2009 is the year of Fort Bliss construction, one billion dollars’ worth.

“It’s like building an airplane in flight or putting a puzzle together,” Manning said.

Puzzle pieces include a brand new youth services facility for the children of soldiers, a state-of-the-art barracks facility for wounded soldiers and a new mall, on which construction is already underway.

“When that money became available, we were ready to execute.”

At one million acres, Fort Bliss certainly has room to grow. Another $60 million will go to new trails to put tanks to the test as Bliss puts construction into overdrive.

“In ’08, we were talking about, ‘the puzzle’s in the box and here’s what we’re going to do,’ but really, in ’09, now we’re putting those pieces in place,” Manning said.

Some of the projects are using money from President Barack Obama’s stimulus. Because Fort Bliss had such a long list of construction plans ready to go, as soon as they received the money, the shovels hit the dirt.