‘Great Triumphal Arch’ excavation work to begin in coming weeks, Burgum says

The Trump administration will begin preparing the Memorial Circle in front of the Arlington National Cemetery for President Donald Trump’s “Great Triumphal Arch” in the next two weeks, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced Thursday.“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 said in a statement.Burgum’s announcement comes after a series of key approvals and backing from various federal agencies for the arch plans, including a late-August backing from the National Park Service, an April approval from the Commission of Fine Arts, and a July approval from the National Capital Planning Commission. It also comes while a legal challenge against the 250-foot-tall arch from a group of Vietnam War veterans continues to play out in court. “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 wrote on X, alongside images of the arch renderings. 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… pic.twitter.com/8aff90jKNd— Secretary Doug Burgum (@SecretaryBurgum) September 3, 2026 Trump first unveiled plans for the “Independence Arch” in October 2025. The over-200-foot structure is a white arch with a golden statue of Lady Liberty on top. The administration plans to construct the arch on Columbia Island, which is NPS territory and sits across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial.The group of three Vietnam veterans sued the administration at the end of February, arguing the president needs congressional approval to construct the arch. The Trump administration filed a five-page notice of supplemental authority on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, where the complaint was filed, to alert the court to the Supreme Court’s decision allowing the White House to continue the construction on the East Wing Ballroom.Department of Justice lawyers argued in the filing that just as the National Trust for Historic Preservation “could not establish standing based on a ‘desire to view’ the White House,” the plaintiffs in the arch case “cannot establish standing based on desires to view Arlington House or the Lincoln Memorial.”“Plaintiffs’ distaste for the perceived symbolism of the proposed arch does not establish a concrete and particularized injury,” the DOJ lawyers argued Thursday.In the plaintiff’s Wednesday notice to the court about the Supreme Court’s ballroom decision, the lawyers for the veterans filing against the arch project argue that the plaintiffs “acted properly in bringing suit promptly following Defendants’ announcement of their plan to buildan unauthorized monument,” addressing the timing of their lawsuit compared to the complaint against the ballroom project, which was filed after the administration broke ground.NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ASSESSING ‘ADVERSE’ IMPACT OF TRUMP ARCH ON HISTORIC SITESThe plaintiff’s lawyers argued that the “entry of an injunction that stops Defendants’ unlawful project before they break ground is the appropriate form of relief.”After conducting an assessment of the “adverse” impacts of the arch, NPS determined there would be adverse effects on the sightlines of nearby monuments, such as the Lincoln Memorial, but supported the project anyway.