Colorado Plateau
AA-2026-621D34
On the image
In the 1970s, the ideal American vacation often involved driving vast distances to see things exactly like this: immense geological formations separated by long, straight stretches of asphalt. This particular highway promises to connect two points, likely in the American Southwest, with an efficiency that completely ignores the millions of years of natural processes that created everything else in view.
The original designers no doubt believed this straight line through the Colorado Plateau represented progress, conquering the wild with engineering. Meanwhile, the mesas and buttes simply stood, utterly unimpressed by the two lanes of traffic or the precise placement of a single white line.
It was an era when petrol was cheap, cars were large, and the open road seemed to stretch into infinite possibility, provided you packed enough snacks and mixed tapes.
The historian's note
The image captures a segment of a highway traversing the arid, rugged landscape of the American Southwest, specifically within the geological province known as the Colorado Plateau. This region is characterised by its distinctive mesas, buttes, and canyons, formed by erosion of uplifted sedimentary rock layers.
Highways in the 1970s, many of which were part of the expanding Interstate Highway System, facilitated increased automobile travel and tourism across the Western United States. This era marked a peak for the American road trip, with infrastructure designed to connect remote natural wonders.
Such scenes became iconic representations of freedom and exploration, despite the significant engineering challenges and environmental impacts associated with building major transportation routes through such harsh, remote terrain.
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Colorado Plateau Highway, 1970s. 1970–1979. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-621D34. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/colorado-plateau-highway-1970s.
@misc{aaAA2026621D34,
title = {Colorado Plateau Highway, 1970s},
year = {1970–1979},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-621D34},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/colorado-plateau-highway-1970s}
}TY - ART TI - Colorado Plateau Highway, 1970s PY - 1970–1979 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-621D34 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/colorado-plateau-highway-1970s ER -
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