The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center, a proposed $80 million educational facility to be built under the National Mall, can finally move forward after a regional planning agency approved a site steps from two national icons Thursday.

The selection of a 5.2-acre parcel bounded by Henry Bacon Drive, 23rd Street, Constitution Avenue and the Lincoln Memorial ends a heated 16-month debate between veterans, conservationists and Congress, and should make moot legislation currently circulating through Congress to force the issue.