Arlington County sues to block Trump arch after project gets key approval

Arlington County has filed a lawsuit to block President Trump’s proposed triumphal arch following the project’s approval by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts in April.

The lawsuit opposed the construction of the proposed 250-foot arch, citing concerns about the project’s impact on tourism and safety to local residents.

“Using the Arch to store large stockpiles of ammunition and as a staging point for drones and snipers, so close to commuters and tourists, will dramatically worsen these public-safety harms and the risk of accidents,” attorneys for Arlington County wrote in a complaint .

“The Arch will…directly obstruct the line of sight between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery that was deliberately created to symbolize the nation’s post-Civil War reunification,” the lawyers continued.

The legal team stated that Arlington County’s 245,000 residents would be “harmed by increased traffic” near the project’s site at Memorial Circle.

The lawsuit named the Department of the Interior and its Secretary Doug Burgum alongside the National Park Service (NPS) and acting director Jessica Bowron as defendants.

“At a time when millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet, we don’t need vanity projects. This project will do significant harm to the people of Arlington County,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, an organization suing with the county, said in a press release on Thursday.

This is not the first lawsuit against the proposed arch, as a group of Vietnam War veterans sued in September for an emergency court order to block the project from breaking ground.

They also sued in February , similarly arguing that the location of the arch would block historical sightlines between the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and Arlington House.

The NPS backed the arch’s proposed location earlier this fall, but also found the monument would have “ adverse effects ” on several historic sites as well as the skyline of the nation’s capital.

The arch is one of Trump’s projects as part of his efforts to “Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Again.” Other projects included renovations at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool , an ongoing legal battle over changes to the Kennedy Center and choosing to pave over the White House Rose Garden .