New plans for Trump’s arch don’t mention the ‘military complex’ he said it would host
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New Interior Department documents on President Donald Trump’s proposed Triumphal Arch don’t mention the “military complex” he has said it would host, but the agency said Monday the plan could accommodate such a feature.
The latest batch of planning documents are part of a meeting set for two days after the midterm election on Nov. 3 and reflect the Republican president’s push to leave a lasting mark on Washington.
The documents include site maps and renderings of the arch. One response to questions from the National Capital Planning Commission asked for a justification for the structure’s size — it’s planned to be 250 feet tall (76 meters). The National Park Service, part of the Interior Department, cited the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.
“The proposed Triumphal Arch is the celebratory contribution of the semiquincentennial generation of Americans,” the agency wrote.
The documents do not detail a military complex at the structure.
Trump said in September that he agreed, at the military’s request, to convert the structure into a “top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch” and that it would store drones and ammunition, as well as accommodate snipers.
A spokesperson for the Interior Department said in an emailed statement that the structure could host those features, even though they were not specified in the plans.
“The current design of the Triumphal Arch is capable of accommodating the national security functions — and more — highlighted in the President’s Truth Social post,” the unidentified spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
The arch is proposed for a circle adjacent to the Memorial Bridge connecting the nation’s capital with northern Virginia. Like other projects around the capital Trump is pushing, it faces legal challenges.
Among the others are the White House ballroom, renaming and renovating the Kennedy Center, and rebuilding a golf course in East Potomac Park, which could significantly reduce the public’s access to running and biking paths.
The arch’s opponents say it’s too big and would disrupt the view between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, meant to symbolize the reunification of the North and the South after the Civil War.