Trump's plan for a triumphal arch in the nation's capital is getting another review
Source: ABC News/AP
July 9, 2026, 12:06 AM
WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump's plans to build a skyline-altering arch in the nation's capital is getting another review from the federal commission whose approval he needs, but the agency's staff says the project should be revised before it gets the go-ahead. The National Capital Planning Commission is meeting Thursday, and the Republican president's proposed 250-foot (76-meter) arch is one of the items on the agenda.
In a report, the agency's staff recommends that the commission approve the preliminary site and building plans for the arch. But the staff also recommends that the design be tweaked to comply with a federal law that limits building heights in downtown Washington to preserve the city's famous skyline. The planning commission applies the law during its approval process.
Staff suggests the Commission request the applicant revise the project design to comply with the Height of Buildings Act and return to NCPC for final approval, the 185-page report says.
Applying the law "would require design revisions to redistribute the height between the main structure, habitable roof structure and statuary, the report said. But even with the recommended revisions, the arch, a public observation deck and three gilded topper statues would still reach Trump's desired 250-foot height, the report said.
Read more: https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/trumps-plan-triumphal-arch-nations-capital-review-134607221
REFERENCES
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143608918
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143647643
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143651149
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143664373
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143664725
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143667857
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143668282
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143671930
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143679993
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143681389
Turbineguy
(40,321 posts)ProudMNDemocrat
(21,039 posts)Just as ugly as the model at the fiasco that was the Great American State Fair?
BurnDoubt
(1,976 posts)We drove past a chicken-processing plant with a semi trailer parked under a chute emitting un-usable gore.
Nextdoor was a plant processing particle board.
It has been known to us as chicken-board ever after.
Chicken-board sounds appropriate for this bullshit project.
pat_k
(14,717 posts)Tweaked???
For the sake of decency, it must be scrapped.
Americans don't want his f-ing arch.
Why have a public comment period if you're just going to ignore them all?
FWIW, here's what I submitted.
I cannot think of a more monstrously Un-American eyesore than the proposed arch.
The preposterous height would overwhelm and utterly ruin the deliberate design of the National Mall with its treasured long and open views. It will encroach on hallowed military ground and destroy the solemn views between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
This project must be rejected to preserve the quintessentially American, elegant, restrained symmetries and harmonies of Washington D.C.s neoclassical and Federal architecture.
I, along with millions of Americans, am begging you not to commit this heartbreaking, obscenely grandiose architectural atrocity. For the sake of the nation, heed our calls.
riversedge
(82,453 posts)Trump is teaching our kids that if you have LOTS of money, you mainly get what you want
https://abcnews.com/US/wireStory/trumps-plan-triumphal-arch-nations-capital-review-134607221
..........The arch would be more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial, which is 99 feet (30 meters) tall, and close to half the height of the Washington Monument, at about 555 feet (169 meters) tall.
Trump had said last year that the arch could be paid for with unused funds from the hundreds of millions of dollars he said he has raised from corporations, donors and other wealthy people to pay to build a new $400 million ballroom at the White House.
But, as it turns out, some public money will be used for the ballroom project, as well as the arch. The White House has not released a cost estimate for the arch.
Bayard
(30,816 posts)Surely not him and his accomplishments. It will be a giant middle finger to Americans. That money needs to go into Social Security and Medicare.
maxsolomon
(39,539 posts)His goal is to make everyone think about him all day.
BurnDoubt
(1,976 posts)Starting with his 500 best sycophants.
Could be his biggest crowd ever.