Underpass Art Cost Taxpayers $50,000

A seemingly underwhelming art piece -- valued at $50,000 -- currently stands underneath a freeway in D.C., but many passersby don't even notice it.

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The Washington Post reported earlier this week the project cost a total of $50,000 -- half from the D.C. Commission on Arts and Humanities and another from the Capitol Riverfront Businesses and landlords in the neighborhood.

News4's Mark Segraves spoke with passersby who had no idea why the pylons were painted blue.

"I thought that it was something about illuminating the underneath of the bridge or something like that to make it safer," one man said.

Officials said they were trying to create a sense of "arrival or gateway at an underpass" that feels like an industrial wasteland. They said the project had been vetted through community members who supported the project.

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