President Donald Trump's proposed 250-foot-tall (76-meter) memorial arch could disrupt the historical significance of dozens of sites near its planned location, according to an assessment by the National Park Service. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
Many of Washington's monuments, buildings and sites have been carefully planned over the decades to reflect significant moments in the nation's history and evoke symbolism in being connected by sightline to other sites.
The proposed towering gilded arch, which last month received initial approval from a key federal commission, would impact the "integrity" of dozens of those historical properties because it would change "character-defining visual and spatial relationships" between them.
The NPS report, published Monday, said the immediate project area is located within the Memorial Avenue Corridor cultural landscape, "a nationally significant historic designed landscape extending between the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., and Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia."
One of the most obvious elements the report cited is that the arch would break alignment between the Lincoln Memorial, Memorial Bridge and Arlington House that was formerly Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's home.
"The bridge alignment and associated ceremonial landscape were intended to physically and symbolically unite North and South through a coordinated monumental composition extending across the Potomac River," the report said.
The report puts a snag in a project that has sailed through several steps of the approval process in front of planning bodies stocked with Trump appointees and allies.
The proposed arch is one of several projects the Republican president is pursuing to leave his lasting imprint on Washington. With the potential to change the city's sightline, it has already sparked opposition.