Planning documents released by the Department of the Interior say Donald Trump's proposed Triumphal Arch would be built 20 hours a day for the next two to three years, turning one of Washington's most controversial monuments into a round-the-clock construction job. The National Park Service last week released designs, renderings and reports on the arch as it opened a public comment period.
The schedule is the clearest sign yet of how large the project would be. The plans call for seven phases of construction, beginning with excavation and then about five months of continuous heavy equipment work to drive the foundation system roughly 75 feet down to bedrock. After that, workers would spend about 10 months building the primary concrete structure and attaching granite panels, using U.S.-sourced granite over a concrete core.
The scale goes beyond the arch itself. The documents say the job would require multiple cranes, including equipment as tall as 320 feet, and year-round work in two 10-hour shifts. After about two years, the plans call for a 300-foot mobile crane, a signal that the structure would be large enough to alter the skyline around the National Mall and beyond.
The project is intended to mark 250 years of American independence, and one report says smaller versions were not considered representative of that milestone. The 250-foot arch proposed in the undertaking is being challenged in federal court, though those lawsuits have so far failed to stop the work from moving forward. The monument would sit near the flight paths for Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which is why the design includes aviation safety lighting.
The Federal Aviation Administration concluded the arch would not have a significant adverse effect on airspace or visual and instrument procedures for the airport and said it would require only red obstruction lights. Even so, the new documents show the project would mean months of heavy hauling, about 30 trucks moving 100 loads of soil a day during foundation work, and construction that runs through seasons rather than around them. The next official step is a full aeronautical study with the FAA, and that review will show whether the plan keeps its shape or picks up new limits before ground is fully broken.
