Highway 89 in Decline - A Photo Essay

One day I was driving home from southern Utah and decided to take the road less traveled between Zion National Park and Provo. I looked at a map and learned that Highway 89 runs approximately parallel to I-15, but across the mountains to the east. I decided that this would be a good chance to see part of Utah that I didn't know well.

I had heard, years ago, that one national magazine named Highway 89, a.k.a. Utah's State Street, the ugliest street in America. But as I drove up the road, I noticed a lot of beautiful scenery. It was far from the ugliest street in America. However, along with the beautiful landscape, I also saw a lot of abandoned houses. I wondered if these houses symbolized the trend of small towns losing their younger generations to the city, or maybe the derelict houses represented the effects of the crumbling economy on rural areas. Whatever the causes, I decided that I would like to undertake a project to document the deterioration of this beautiful section of the ugliest street in America.

This year, for our anniversary, Katie was extremely tolerant of my wish to drive Highway 89 and stop any time I saw an abandoned house. The following photo essay is the result of our trip, and is arranged in geographic order from south to north along Highway 89.