Excavation work on Trumps triumphal arch to begin over next 2 weeks, Interior secretary says

Excavation work for the construction of President Donald Trump’s proposed 250-foot “triumphal arch” will begin over the next two weeks, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced, despite the project not having final approval from a key agency.

“We are pleased to announce that after a very long wait (over 125 years!), we are preparing to start, over the next two-week period, the excavation work necessary for the Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck, at Memorial Circle on Columbia Island between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery,” Burgum wrote in a social media post on Thursday.

“This will be one of the Great Pieces of American Architecture, honoring the history and significance of Arlington Cemetery and befitting the most powerful Capital in the World,” Burgum added.

Burgum’s announcement comes after a key agency gave initial approval to the plans and as the project continues to face a legal challenge.

In July, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) voted to approve the preliminary site and building plans for the arch after hearing hours of public testimony against the project.

Ahead of that meeting NCPC agency staff recommended initial approval but also a series of revisions to the project to comply with the Height of Buildings Act. The century-old federal law restricts building heights in Washington, D.C., to preserve the city’s skyline.

The commission has not yet approved the final design for the arch.

Trump’s proposed arch would be more than twice as tall as the 99-foot Lincoln Memorial, and taller than France’s Arc de Triomphe.

Earlier this year, Commission of Fine Arts, another federal agency made up entirely of Trump appointees, also voted to give the project initial approval. 

The National Park Service plans to have construction take place 20 hours per day over the next two to three years, according to planning documents released by the Interior Department earlier this summer.

A group of Vietnam veterans sued over the arch earlier this year and are asking a federal judge to block the construction, arguing the arch would obstruct views of Arlington National Cemetery and can’t be built without congressional authorization.

The Trump administration has argued that a 100-year-old statute related to the building of the nearby Arlington Memorial Bridge authorizes construction of the arch. Department of Justice lawyers have also argued that the plaintiffs lack standing and that the lawsuit is premature. 

In recent court filings, both sides referenced the Supreme Court’s move earlier this week to allow continued construction of the White House ballroom — another of Trump’s key Washington projects.

In a filing Thursday, the Trump administration said the veterans’ claims are “indistinguishable” from the one rejected by the high court’s five-member majority earlier this week in the ballroom case, finding the National Trust for Historic Preservation likely lacked standing to sue.

“Plaintiffs’ personal and professional experiences cannot transform distaste for the arch and its proposed placement into concrete and particularized injuries required for Article III standing,” the Justice Department’s filing said.

The veterans argued their suit is different than the ballroom case.

“Plaintiffs’ injury is not based on the construction of something that gives them offense but rather on the destruction of a landscape that they regularly visit and that holds profound personal significance for each of them in its present state,” the veterans’ filing argues.

In April, U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is hearing the case, ordered that the Trump administration must provide the court with 14 days’ notice before any construction on the arch can begin.