Crews are applying an “American flag blue” coating to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced Friday, as part of a roughly $1.5 million resurfacing project President Donald Trump unveiled Thursday.
The renovation work is expected to be completed well before the nation’s 250th anniversary on July 4. The pool, designed by Henry Bacon and last comprehensively renovated in 2012 with approximately $34 million from Obama-era stimulus funds, sits east of the Lincoln Memorial and spans 2,030 feet in length.
Trump stated that contractors had scrubbed the granite basin, grouted it, and begun laying down what he called an industrial-grade swimming pool surface in “American flag blue.” He estimated the project would cost roughly $1.5 million with a reported range of $1.5 million to $2 million, and said it would be finished “long before July 4.”
Trump also mentioned that his administration rejected an earlier proposal to replace the pool’s 1920s granite, which he described as costing about $300 million and taking roughly three years. He noted that he used contractors he knew from private real estate work.
The project is part of a broader initiative launched by Trump with an executive order dated March 28, 2025, directing Interior Secretary Burgum and the National Park Service to clean up federal land in Washington ahead of the semiquincentennial. The administration has also pursued public safety measures, National Guard deployments in D.C., and restoration projects at fountains, parks, and federal golf courses.
Additionally, Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget includes $10 billion for his Presidential Capital Stewardship Program.
Meanwhile, the White House ballroom project — a $400 million initiative that remains partially blocked by a federal court ruling — continues to face legal challenges. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled in March that above-ground construction could not proceed without congressional approval and reaffirmed that ruling on April 16.
