The National Capital Planning Commission gave final approval on Thursday to President Trump's 250-foot triumphal arch on Memorial Circle, the gateway between Washington, D.C. and Arlington, Virginia, at the end of the Memorial Bridge from the Lincoln Memorial. The commission signed off on the final site and building plans filed by the Department of the Interior, clearing the last major planning hurdle for the monument. Commission chairman Mark Paoletta called the finished arch “the grandest arch ever built by mankind.”
The approval covers the arch's full 250-foot height, the final plans, curb cuts on Memorial Avenue, the traffic plans for Washington Boulevard and new crosswalks around the circle. It also approves the non-standard eternal flame that will burn in the hand of the golden Lady Liberty figure atop the arch, which planners said presents no hazard to air navigation, and continuous floodlighting of the top of the structure by searchlights. Fifteen of Memorial Circle's 32 traffic poles will be removed to reduce visual clutter. The architect, Nicolas Leo Charbonneau of Harrison Design, told the commission the arch can hold about 400 visitors, and the commission heard that the revised design is not required to comply with the Heights of Buildings Act Congress passed in 1924.
The arch is also being built for security. Paoletta described it as a “generational security opportunity to protect our capital,” in line with the plan to use the top of the arch as a sniper's nest and its base to store weapons, and War Secretary Pete Hegseth called it last week a “dual purpose structure” — both a national monument and a military position. The commission noted that the specific national security functions have been filed under seal and are not in the public plans it reviewed. Work is already moving: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced in September that excavation at the site was set to begin, describing the project as the Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck at Memorial Circle on Columbia Island, between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
Opposition was stated plainly at the hearing. Commissioner Phil Mendelson asked, “Why are we building this arch?” — the Interior Department's Greg Wischer answered that it fulfils plans dating to 1925 to build a triumphal arch in Washington. Representative Jared Huffman of California, who is set to chair the House Natural Resources Committee after the Democrats' midterm sweep, argued the project has no congressional authorization and is illegal under the Commemorative Works Act, warning that firms working on it may face legal risks. Public comment was heated, and about 90 minutes in, the hearing's public link crashed, cutting off the remaining speakers; the commission said it was a technical issue and that it is looking into it.
For the public, the approval means a permanent new landmark honouring veterans at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery — and reworked traffic patterns, crosswalks and sightlines around one of the capital's busiest circles while it is built.
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