A LONG time ago, some one told me that the large concrete air shaft for I-395, just north of Massachusetts Avenue, is jokingly referred to as the “Nixon Memorial.” (It is a large obelisk looking concrete rectangle, with a mural painted on the side.) Do others refer to it as the Nixon Memorial? Or was that just one person’s joke? It seems sort of appropriate…

Interesting. DCist covered some ineffective advertising on that air shaft in October 2004 (see photo at right). Wow, does that concrete slab get attention. A mural is currently on its west front. Mural art is a good way to beautify some of the gorgeous concrete-block architecture the second half of the 20th century left with us.

The concrete-column air shaft serves as ventilation for the I-395/Center Leg Freeway/Third Street tunnel, a project that got its start in 1955. The first portion of the project was built 1966-1973 and the second 1979-1982. The project was originally designed to connect all the major highways surrounding D.C., but ended up only connecting I-395 to New York Avenue (Route 50), leading to some of the lovely beach traffic entanglements we experience every summer.