DC and Virginia sue to stop Trump's arch

The District of Columbia and Virginia sued the federal government on Saturday to stop construction of President Donald Trump's proposed triumphal arch, adding to the legal challenges facing the project just days before it could be approved.

The arch is planned for Memorial Circle, a traffic circle at the Virginia end of Arlington Memorial Bridge, across the Potomac River from the Lincoln Memorial. The lawsuit, filed by the attorneys general of the two jurisdictions against the National Park Service and the Interior Department, says the 250-foot structure would be nearly twice the height allowed under the District's building limits and has not been approved by Congress, as the law requires.

The two governments also argue that years of construction would snarl traffic on a key route between Washington and Virginia, slow emergency evacuations and raise safety concerns near the flight path into Reagan National Airport. They say the arch would block the historic view between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House and could harm the environment along the river.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan combined the new case with an earlier lawsuit against the project. The National Capital Planning Commission is scheduled to review the final plans on Nov. 5, and federal officials have said construction could begin soon after if they are approved. The administration has not yet formally responded to the new complaint.