FAA gives approval for Trump’s arch, says it won’t interfere with flights

By Michael Williams, Sunlen Serfaty, CNN

(CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday gave its approval for President Donald Trump’s planned triumphal arch, saying it will not interfere with aircraft flying into the nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The arch, which is expected to stand at around 250 feet, will have no “substantial adverse effect on the safe and efficient utilization of the navigable airspace,” the FAA wrote in their report.

Critics have condemned the arch over its massive size – it will loom over the nearby Lincoln Memorial – and its planned location, a traffic circle near a bridge that connects Washington, DC, with Virginia, and near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery, which will block historically significant sight lines from the city into the cemetery.

Pilots have also expressed concern over the planned size of the arch given its proximity to Washington’s national airport. Even if the structure does not pose a direct safety threat in their flight paths, it is yet another obstacle that they will have to be aware of in a corridor that requires careful navigation around restricted airspaces and complex turns, some have told CNN.

The FAA report says the arch will be placed just within 4,000 feet from the airport.

The report released Friday indicates that the planned structure just meets FAA standards for structures that may interfere with navigable airspace – in some cases, exceeding those standards by a little over 40 feet.

In June, the FAA released a preliminary feasibility study, concluding the arch would have “no significant adverse effect on airspace and visual/instrument procedures” at the airport.

However, evaluators determined at the time its height would mean it would need “to be lit with red obstruction lights” to help with flight safety.

The final go-ahead the FAA gave in its report on Friday is a significant – but not final – step in the president’s quest to break ground on the arch that he has said he envisions as the largest in the world.

The National Capital Planning Commission – one of two key federal agencies that reviews and approves major changes on government property in Washington, DC — has only given preliminary approval for the project.

Tammy Stidham, Associate Regional Director of Lands and Planning National Park Service, said the administration is eyeing the commission’s November meeting to give final approval.

The other agency, the Commission on Fine Arts, previously gave its final approval.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced on X in early September that his agency would start breaking ground for the excavation work in the upcoming two weeks.

That same day, government lawyers seemed to backtrack, saying in a court filing that week what’s currently planned is archeological survey work that’s needed to “ensure compliance with statutes such as the National Historic Preservation Act.”

The work would start no later than Sept. 21, and the land would be restored by Oct. 31, according to the filing.

“This activity is not construction, or demolition in preparation for construction, of an arch,” the lawyers said in the filing.

The analysis, known as a Section 106 review, which is required for agencies to consider how projects will affect historical properties, is still not completed. At the NCPC’s most recent meeting in early September, consulting parties expressed concern and said they were not yet ready to give their approval for the project.

Even so, the administration has signaled they intend to fast-track Section 106 approval by asking consulting parties to sign onto a draft Memorandum of Agreement that emerged earlier this week. At least one consulting party has said it will not do so.

The arch is separately being challenged in an ongoing court case by veterans and preservation groups.

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