The federal government plans to start excavation over the next two weeks on a massive triumphal arch across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum said Thursday, launching a controversial project championed by President Trump.
Construction at the site is expected to take two to three years, with an intense 20-hour-a-day, year-round work schedule, the National Park Service has said, meaning the project could wrap up toward the end of Mr. Trump’s second term.
The 250-foot-tall arch — which will be clad in granite and topped by three golden statues plus an observation deck — is slated for a traffic circle near Arlington Memorial Cemetery and across the river from the Lincoln Memorial. The administration has said the arch will recognize the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this year, and has argued that previous architectural plans for the site have called for a monument to be built.
“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 Thursday in a post on X.
Doug Burgum 
The project is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to put his architectural stamp on the nation’s capital, with sweeping changes planned for the White House campus, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and the Kennedy Center.
The president has taken a personal interest in the project, showing off three-dimensional renderings of the arch at White House events. Mr. Trump told donors to his White House ballroom project last fall that he was given a choice between building a “small, medium and large” arch, but concluded: “I happen to think the large looks by far the best.”
But the arch has drawn pushback from Democrats, preservation groups and veterans who argue the arch — at more than double the height of the Lincoln Memorial — could interfere with sightlines between major D.C. monuments and Arlington National Cemetery. Critics have also warned about its position just north of Ronald Reagan Washington International Airport.
Democratic Rep. Don Beyer of Virginia, whose district abuts the site of the arch, called the project “not even close to being ready for prime time” in a statement Thursday.
“Burgum and the Trump Administration are disregarding the risks and rushing this towering monument to Trump’s vanity because they believe Republicans will get crushed in November,” Beyer said. “They believe, I hope correctly, that the project will be endangered by a new Democratic majority that actually stands up to Trump.”
One group of veterans sued over the arch earlier this year, arguing the Trump administration lacks congressional approval to build it. The Justice Department asked a judge to toss out the suit, which remains pending in federal court.
The National Park Service acknowledged last month the project could have some adverse impacts on the landscape, but said “the same characteristics that make Memorial Circle sensitive from a preservation perspective are also the characteristics that make it the historically appropriate location for the undertaking.”
Two panels led by Trump appointees that oversee construction in the D.C. area have offered support for the project. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts granted final approval in May, and the National Capital Planning Commission voted for preliminary approval in July, though it requested some changes.
The Federal Aviation Administration is still studying the project’s impact on the congested D.C.-area airspace and collecting public comments. An earlier study by the FAA found it would not have an adverse effect on the nearby airport, but would need to be topped by red obstruction lights.
