A federal planning commission voted 8-4 on Thursday, November 5, to approve final plans for President Donald Trump’s proposed 250-foot triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery. The vote clears a planning hurdle, but lawsuits seeking to stop the project remain unresolved, according to the Associated Press.
The arch is planned for Memorial Circle, across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial. Its main structure would stand 166 feet tall, with three gilded figures on top bringing the overall height to 250 feet. Plans also include an observation deck.
The commission’s decision followed nearly nine hours of public comments and more than 1,300 submissions, most opposing the project. Critics at the hearing included California Rep. Jared Huffman, who argued that Congress should decide whether the monument proceeds, and Marine veteran Jimi Shaughnessy, who said the design would be insulting to those who died in military service and their families.
Lawsuits could still delay construction
Vietnam War veterans, Virginia and Washington, D.C., have filed lawsuits challenging the administration’s authority and the process used to approve the monument. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is weighing whether to temporarily block construction.
Chutkan has ordered the government to notify her within an hour of the commission’s vote and give 30 minutes’ notice before any construction preparations. The administration told a court that a contractor might be arranging off-site preparations, but construction timing remains uncertain, CBS News reported.
The administration has estimated the arch could attract between 2,000 and 22,400 visitors a day and take three years to build. The project’s cost and who would pay for it have not been established in the plans described to the commission.
Nicole French