Updated on: February 2, 2026 / 8:04 PM EST / CBS News
Washington — President Trump says he wants the new triumphal arch he is commissioning as a gateway to Washington, D.C., to be the “biggest one of all,” even though the proposed site sits along a flight path for Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia.
White House officials say the design is still being refined and that the president intends the arch to exceed the height of Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, which is 164 feet tall. The Washington Post reported the president is aiming for a 250-foot structure to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary — a height that would surpass the world’s tallest existing triumphal arch, the 220-foot Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico City. For scale, the Lincoln Memorial across from the proposed site is 99 feet tall.
The White House plans to seek approvals from the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission for what officials are calling the Independence Arch. “I’d like it to be the biggest one of all,” Trump told reporters Sunday night aboard Air Force One. “We’re the biggest, most powerful nation.”
Aircraft are prohibited from flying over the National Mall and the Pentagon, so current DCA (Reagan National Airport) flight paths follow the Potomac River at relatively low altitudes. CBS News contacted the Federal Aviation Administration about the DCA flight path but, because of the government shutdown, does not expect a response until the government reopens. It appears no documentation for the arch has been submitted to the FAA’s Obstruction Evaluation/Airport Airspace Analysis site.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle said the arch “is going to be one of the most iconic landmarks not only in Washington, D.C., but throughout the world,” and described it as part of the president’s bold legacy.
Mr. Trump first announced plans for a triumphal arch last year and showed a model to reporters in October. He posted images of an arch to Truth Social on Jan. 23, and told Politico in December he hoped construction would begin in about two months. So far, cost estimates for the project have not been disclosed.
DCA flight paths have been under intense scrutiny since the January 2025 crash in which a Black Hawk helicopter collided with a commercial American Airlines plane over the Potomac River, killing 67 people. Investigators found the helicopter was flying at about 278 feet — above its required maximum of 200 feet — when it struck the airliner. The U.S. government admitted liability for that crash in December.
Separately, Mr. Trump announced over the weekend that the Kennedy Center, pending approval from a board aligned with the president, will close for two years for construction as part of broader plans to reshape key federal architecture.
Weijia Jiang, Olivia Rinaldi, Kathryn Krupnik and Sarah Ploss contributed to this report.