Last week I traveled to Denver, Colorado to attend the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting and to continue my work on creative grassroots responses to urban problems. The conference and Denver kept me busy, but I was also fortunate to have an extra day to make a supplementary trip to Cheyenne, Wyoming.
During the visit, I was struck by how each state capital was defined by its history as an important thoroughfare. While both were enhanced by 19th century Western expansion, they have been more recently and visibly affected by transcontinental automobile traffic; for Denver, it was U.S. Highway 40 and, later, Interstate-70, for Cheyenne, it was the Lincoln Highway and, later, Interstate-80. The corresponding mid-century development framed my experience of both places, where I often focused on place, commerce and transportation. So while I photographed throughout both cities, I’ve primarily selected related sample images below.
As always, click on the city titles to see other selected images I posted to flickr.
