The Triumphal Arch proposed by President Donald Trump continues to come under fire, and construction has not even started. A new report details how the arch’s shadow would fall over some of the most significant landmarks in and around Washington, D.C., including graves at Arlington National Cemetery.

Proposed Triumphal Arch Would Cast Shadows Over Nation’s Monuments

Trump has been on a renovation spree across the nation’s capital, and the projects have been widely criticized by Democrats and preservation groups. The latest project to draw scrutiny is the proposed Triumphal Arch, which would stand 250 feet tall on Memorial Circle, about a quarter-mile from Arlington National Cemetery.

According to a recent analysis by The Washington Post, which built a to-scale 3D model of the arch, its shadow would touch burial sites at Arlington National Cemetery on 284 days a year. Over the course of a year, it would pass over more than 75,000 graves, including those of veterans of the Vietnam War, Korean War, both World Wars, the Spanish-American War and the Civil War.

Among the sites in the arch’s path is President John F. Kennedy’s grave, which includes the famous eternal flame that Jacqueline Kennedy requested after his assassination. The shadow would briefly cover the eternal flame on 18 days a year and shade Kennedy’s memorial on 50 days. It would darken the Military Women’s Memorial on 109 days.

The design also calls for an eternal flame of its own, according to final plans the administration released last month. On some days, including July 28, Jacqueline Kennedy’s birthday, the arch’s flame would be visible even as its shadow falls over Kennedy’s flame and grave.

Planners have long emphasized the open space around the capital’s landmarks. Neil Flanagan, an architect and historian who is writing a book about Washington’s design, told the Post that the original designers understood the open space between significant structures “was as important as the landmarks themselves.”

A Closer Look at the Shadow

To measure the impact, the Post looked at May 12, one of the days when the arch’s shadow would stay on the cemetery the longest. Shortly after sunrise, the shadow would cover the Kennedy Eternal Flame for nine minutes, and the Military Women’s Memorial would be obstructed from the sun for 22 minutes.

Around the same time, the shadow would pass over the graves of Supreme Court Justices Thurgood Marshall, William H. Rehnquist and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It would also fall over the graves of World War I and II veterans for more than 15 minutes. In total, the shadow would linger on the cemetery grounds for more than an hour that morning, falling on more than 2,000 graves.

On most days, the shadow would recede by the time the cemetery opens at 8 a.m. The Post found that it would linger past opening time on 26 days a year.

The shadow would reach beyond the cemetery, too. At sunset, it would stretch across the Arlington Memorial Bridge, falling across the Lincoln Memorial in the fall and winter. It would also reach parts of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and the Reflecting Pool on more than 30 days a year.

Interior Department and White House Defend the Arch

The Interior Department has pushed back on the report. A statement from the agency called the Post’s analysis “as flawed as their leftist reporting.” The department said the arch’s designers ran their own models, which found the shadow would affect only a small section of the cemetery after it opens, for less than two weeks a year. The department said “that period is less than an hour after sunrise,” when shadows are long and mixed with the shadows of trees.

When the Post asked for copies of the department’s analyses, the agency provided 23 pages of visual simulations. According to the Post, the documents didn’t explain the methods used, and the shadow locations in those simulations largely aligned with the Post’s findings.

White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the arch would “enhance the visitor experience” at the cemetery. He added that it is “going to be one of the most iconic landmarks” in Washington and around the world. Ingle also told People that “President Trump will continue to honor our veterans.”

Trump has said the arch should be larger than the 164-foot Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which helped inspire the project. “I had to have it a little bit larger,” Trump said last month.

Veterans Raise Concerns

Some members of the military community have spoken out against placing the arch so close to the cemetery. Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, whose parents are buried at Arlington, called the arch’s shadow over the cemetery “a sacrilege.” Eaton works with VoteVets, a veterans advocacy group that opposes the project.

“There are a lot of families out there who are going to visit their loved one,” Eaton said, adding that they would be “overwhelmed by the shadow of this vanity project.”

The project also faces a legal challenge. Three Vietnam War veterans and a historic preservationist have filed a lawsuit claiming the arch would harm their experience of visiting the cemetery, and they’ve asked for an emergency halt to the project. A federal judge is weighing the case.

What Happens Next

The National Capital Planning Commission, a federal review panel, is expected to vote on the project as soon as Nov. 5. According to the Post, administration officials plan to break ground immediately after approval.

The administration is also pushing to relax a federal law that limits most construction in Washington to 130 feet, which could ease the approval process.

The arch could affect the cemetery during its open hours more often if Trump gets his wish for year-round daylight saving time, since clocks would shift forward an hour in the winter.

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