Reporting

Park Service Releases Sites ‘Adversely Affected’ By Triumphal Arch

It’s not a very triumphal moment for President Donald Trump’s proposed Triumphal Arch. The National Park Service (NPS) has listed about 40 locations around Washington, D.C., that would be “adversely affected” by the…

Sandra RhodesAug 3, 20263 min read

Arch Donald Trump National Park Service U.S. News

It’s not a very triumphal moment for President Donald Trump’s proposed Triumphal Arch.

The National Park Service (NPS) has listed about 40 locations around Washington, D.C., that would be “adversely affected” by the Arch.

These include dozens of historic sites.

The NPS asked outside groups to comment after reopening its public comment for its assessment.

Arlington historic sites, including the Robert E. Lee Memorial, along with the Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Grove, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Pentagon, the George Mason Memorial, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall Site and National Mall Historic District, are among those listed.

The NPS used the Lady Bird Johnson Park Cultural Landscape as an example of a site that would be indirectly effected.

It includes physically obstructing “contributing views within the landscape and along Arlington Memorial Bridge, and it would alter views to resources such as Arlington House, Lincoln Memorial, the Potomac River, and Arlington Memorial Bridge,” the NPS noted.

The NPS’s assessment is part of a Section 106 review. This requires federal agencies to consider the range of “undertakings” that would affect sites that are on or eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under preservation law.

The assessment for the Arch was held June 5-15. The NPS reopened public comment before closing it July 30.

The proposed Arch would become the largest in the world. It would eclipse the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City, which measures 220 feet, and the 164-foot Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

It would be located along Arlington Memorial Bridge, which symbolically represents the reunified U.S., connecting the North and South following the Union victory that closed the Civil War in 1865, per The Hill.

On Friday, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation voted to propose rewriting requirements to consult with the public if a project affects historic sites.

This could impact infrastructure projects near historic sites around the country.

The council is expected to try to speed up projects, per the outlet.

The Arch has been criticized since it was announced.

Vietnam War veterans sued the Trump administration in February, stating it would obstruct views of the Arlington House and the Lincoln Memorial.

Retired Army officer Gary Langston, an opponent of the Arch plan, told The New York Times officials should imagine veterans visiting the gravesites of their fallen fellow service members.

“And you’re going to look up and you’re going to see this thing looming over you,” he told the outlet. “And then it’s going to have a viewing stand with tourists looking down at you.”