Washington, D.C., Virginia sue over Trump’s proposed 250-foot arch

The filing brings the total number of lawsuits challenging or seeking to stop work on the project to three, according to the supplied reports. The administration has said construction could begin as early as the following week, although the exact start date remains uncertain.

The proposed arch is planned near the Potomac River, on or near the connection between Washington and Arlington National Cemetery, in an area described in the reports as bordering or straddling the District and Virginia. Its scale has made the location central to the dispute: the structure would rise about 250 feet, or 76 meters.

The Hill reports that the lawsuit names the National Parks Service and the Interior Department as defendants. Al Jazeera reports that the D.C.-Virginia complaint asks the court to require congressional authorization before construction begins; that description of the requested relief has not been independently corroborated in the supplied reports.

The concerns described in the filings center on the project’s effects during construction. The lawsuits raise the prospect of disrupted traffic between the jurisdictions, interference with emergency services, pollution and stormwater runoff into the Potomac. These are arguments presented in the legal filings, not findings that a court has adjudicated.

Al Jazeera also reports concern from local governments and veterans’ groups about the project’s effect on historic views, including views of Arlington National Cemetery. The supplied reporting does not establish that a court has accepted those concerns as a legal finding.

The legal challenge follows an earlier lawsuit brought by three Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian, according to The Guardian and PBS NewsHour. Judge Tanya Chutkan was considering whether to issue an order halting the project while that case was resolved, but the reports say she did not immediately act after a Friday hearing and had not issued a final ruling at the time described.

The administration’s proposal, submitted in a 106-page plan, describes a structure more than 12 stories high with a winged bronze Lady Liberty statue, an eternal flame, observation areas, offices and other interior facilities. The plan also includes proposed traffic changes in the surrounding area. Whether construction can proceed, and when it might start, remains unresolved in the supplied evidence.