President Donald Trump wants to build an arch, and he wants it to be the biggest in the world. But even as he suggests he’ll sign an executive order for its construction, the project is facing pushback and will likely hit legal hurdles before it can proceed.
Trump wants an American version of Paris’ L’Arc de Triomphe, but bigger — the Independence Arch would be 250 feet tall to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary. (L’Arc de Triomphe is 164 feet tall). Based on standard measurements, that would be the equivalent of a 16- to 20-story building.
It’s just Trump’s latest — and tallest — effort to impose his style and tastes on the nation’s capital, and he’s been extremely hands-on. But preservationists are warning that the proposed structure — which would be situated across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial — will block historically significant views in either direction and could pose a hazard to air travel at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The structure of the proposed arch would be 165-feet tall and 165-feet wide, with a 25-foot pedestal and a massive 60-foot gilt bronze Lady Liberty sculpture on top, according to a source familiar with the plans who was granted anonymity to speak freely without professional repercussions. (A sculptor has yet to be selected for that part of the project, that source said.) Smaller versions — 165- and 123-foot-tall iterations with 40- and 30-foot-tall sculptures — were considered, the source said, but Trump is “dead-set on building this huge arch.”
At its current scope, the arch will be roughly half the size of the Washington Monument, which is 555 feet tall, and more than double the size of the 99-foot Lincoln Memorial. And it would be the largest monumental arch in the world, about 30 feet taller than Mexico City’s Monumento a la Revolucion.
The most recent renderings of the proposed stone arch feature columns, eagles, wreaths and the gilded Lady Liberty.
“The Arch is going to be one of the most iconic landmarks not only in Washington, D.C., but throughout the world,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told CNN.
The design is being “refined,” according to a White House official, and will be presented for approval to a pair of key commissions, the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission on Fine Arts — two bodies Trump has stacked with loyalists. But unlike his sprawling ballroom project, the arch is not on White House grounds and therefore is not exempt from historic preservation review.
The monument would sit atop a traffic circle at the base of the Arlington Memorial Bridge, directly between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial. The site is technically within Washington, DC, limits. But that placement will drastically block the view between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House, once home to Confederate leader Robert E. Lee and now a centerpiece of Arlington National Cemetery.
That view has special historical significance. After the Lee family abandoned the hilltop house in May 1861 in the wake of Virginia’s secession from the Union, the US Army began using it as a camp and eventually for military burials, in part as a deterrence for the Lee family’s return, according to Arlington National Cemetery’s website.
Today, the space between the house and the Lincoln Memorial — which is connected by the bridge across the Potomac — “is a very conscious effort linking these things,” said Bryan Clark Green, an architectural historian and historic preservationist.
Green, who served as a Joe Biden appointee on the National Capital Planning Commission, isn’t opposed to a monument on this site, but argued that the scale of the project would obstruct the line of sight.
“The idea of doing a monument in this site could be really compelling if it were scaled properly and sized properly,” he said. “I think this is entirely too big. It’s just going to absolutely dominate the site, dominate the monuments around it.”
The White House did not respond to CNN’s inquiry about the arch’s potential impact on Arlington National Cemetery.
Concerns about the project extend to safety in the air.
The Federal Aviation Administration requires developers to file notice at least 45 days before construction for any structure taller than 200 feet above ground level, and for lower structures located near airports or navigation facilities. And while the FAA does not issue building permits, local governments typically weigh the agency’s findings about a structure’s safety impact before approving projects.
A CNN review of publicly available obstacle records shows the airspace within three miles of Reagan National Airport is already dense with obstructions. Over the past year, the FAA has evaluated hundreds of structures, including cranes up to 336 feet and buildings above 320 feet, in that area.
Trump’s proposed arch would sit only feet from the corridor used for flights approaching the airport from the north. A CNN review of the final approach path into the airport shows the arch’s proposed location would be at a point where aircraft pass at a low altitude of only 492 feet, raising concerns about a narrow margin for pilot error in one of the nation’s tightest sections of airspace.
CNN reached out to the Federal Aviation Administration, which referred questions to the White House. The White House did not respond to CNN’s inquiries about air safety.
Next steps and potential hurdles
It’s likely that plans for the arch will be approved by the two DC-based bodies Trump has packed with allies, but the arch may face other more challenging reviews that require public input, including under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.
As part of those reviews, stakeholders are expected to be consulted, including Arlington National Cemetery, the National Park Service and the DC State Historic Preservation Office, among others.
And the project is almost certain to draw legal challenges that could slow it down — in part because opponents may see that as their only option to challenge an administration that doesn’t always abide by procedural norms.
“There is little reason to believe those limits would be respected,” said Greg Werkheiser, a lawyer specializing in historic preservation who is suing the Trump administration over the president’s plans to paint the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
“That leaves litigation as the last safeguard, placing extraordinary weight on the federal courts – and even then, the question becomes whether lawful court orders will be followed,” he added.
CNN has reached out to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is currently embroiled in the lawsuit over Trump’s ballroom, for comment on the arch plans. A federal judge expressed skepticism last month that the White House has legal authority to construct the ballroom without express authorization of Congress.
The key legal question for the arch, Werkheiser said, is whether the president and the committee he selects follow the required process.
“This isn’t about whether an arch is good or bad. It’s about whether a 250-foot structure that would dwarf the Lincoln Memorial and block iconic views of Arlington National Cemetery would harm historic resources and should be sited elsewhere. … Will the president follow the laws that give the public a voice in these decisions?” he asked.
CNN’s Pete Muntean contributed to this report.
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