Interior preparing to start work on Trump’s arch ‘over the next two-week period’

The federal government is preparing “over the next two weeks” to start work on President Trump’s proposed triumphal arch in the Washington, D.C. area, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Thursday.

“We are preparing to start, over the next two-week period, the excavation work necessary for the Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck,” Burgum said in a post on X.

It was not entirely clear from Burgum’s post whether excavation work itself was starting in two weeks or if the department was simply preparing for that work to start.

The Hill has reached out to Interior for clarification.

In his post, Burgum said that he arch 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.”

The arch is one of several D.C.-based projects that the president has championed. Trump said earlier this year that he’d like for it to be the biggest in the world.

A federal assessment recently said that the arch would adversely impact dozens of historic sites around the city, including by obstructing views.