U.S. Route 6 Totally Explained

Everything about U S Route 6 totally explained

U.S. Route 6, also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system, running east-northeast from Bishop, California to Provincetown, Massachusetts. Until 1964, it continued south from Bishop to Long Beach, California, and was a transcontinental route. It is now the second-longest highway in the U.S.

Route description

From 1937 until 1964, when most of its route through California was eliminated, US 6 was the longest highway in the country, but the truncation dropped its length below that of U.S. Route 20. When it was designated in 1926, it only ran east of Erie, Pennsylvania, and roughly fit into the overall grid (though the diagonal routing of U.S. Route 20 through Erie places it north of US 6). However, subsequent extensions, largely replacing the former U.S. Route 32 and U.S. Route 38 (which were in sequence), have taken it south of U.S. Route 30 near Chicago, Illinois, U.S. Route 40 near Denver, Colorado (past the end of US 38), U.S. Route 50 at Ely, Nevada, and even U.S. Route 70 near Los Angeles, California, due to its north-south alignment in that state.. Two rest areas along U.S. 6 pay tribute to the residents of the town who lost everything.
U.S. 6 in Utah passes through or by several ghost towns including Tintic, Thistle, Tucker, Soldier Summit, Colton, Woodside and Cisco. Most of these towns were either mining or railroad based. Legal Definition in Utah The Utah section of U.S. 6 is defined in several parts:

From Nevada state line to Interstate 15, in Utah Code Annotated § 72-4-106(2).(External Link

)

Concurrent with Interstate 15, in Utah Code Annotated § 72-4-107(5).(External Link

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From Interstate 15 to Interstate 70, in Utah Code Annotated § 72-4-106(2).

Concurrent with Interstate 70 to the Colorado state line, in Utah Code Annotated § 72-4-112(8).(External Link

) The multipart definition is the result of Utah's policy of not formally overlapping routes.

Colorado

U.S. 6 is concurrent with Interstate 70 for a significant portion of its length from the Utah state line to Denver. Within the city limits, U.S. 6 follows Denver's 6th Avenue (known as "6th Avenue Freeway"). The highway then travels north briefly, and follows Interstate 76 for most of its length east of Denver. It is unsigned while it's overlapped. The highest altitude along US 6 is 11,990 ft (3,655 m) at Loveland Pass, where it crosses the Continental Divide.

Nebraska

U.S. 6 starts going southeast. The first town it goes into is Imperial, NE. U.S. 6 conjoins with U.S. Route 34, near Culbertson, NE. U.S. 6 then goes through McCook, NE. U.S. 6 then moves to the northeast, into Hastings, NE. At Hastings, U.S. Route 34 breaks with U.S. 6, and moves north. U.S. 6 moves parallel with Interstate 80, until Lincoln, NE. At Lincoln, U.S. 6 becomes Cornhusker Highway, and moves north of Interstate 80. U.S. 6 moves parallel to Interstate 80 to Gretna, NE. U.S. 6 moves to the due north, and becomes West Dodge Road and Dodge Street in Omaha, NE. It passes through downtown Omaha on parallel one-way streets and overlaps with I-480 in Omaha on its last Nebraska segment. It crosses the Missouri River into Iowa on a girder bridge completed in 1966 that replaced the Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge which was the first road bridge to connect the two cities.

Iowa

U.S. 6 enters Iowa at Council Bluffs across the Missouri River from Omaha. It heads due east until Lewis, where it turns sharply north-northeast to Atlantic. There, it overlaps with U.S. Route 71 north until Interstate 80. It overlaps with I-80 between U.S. 71 and U.S. 169 at De Soto. It goes north with U.S. 169 to Adel, then turns east to go through Des Moines. At Altoona, U.S. 6 rejoins I-80. It continues east with I-80 until Newton, where it splits north from I-80 to run parallel. U.S. 6 passes through Grinnell and Marengo before arriving in Iowa City where it again crosses 80. At West Liberty, it proceeds due east until Wilton where it turns north to concurrency again with 80. Arriving in Davenport, it becomes Kimberly Road until Interstate 74 with which it runs across the Mississippi River on the I-74 Bridge into Moline, Illinois.

Illinois

In Illinois, U.S. 6 parallels Interstates 74 and 80 mostly along its original routing, overlapping with Interstate 74 for its first 5 miles (9 km) and Interstate 80 for the final 2 miles (5 km) of its routing in Illinois. U.S. 6 directly serves the downtowns of many cities for its length, including Moline, Geneseo, Ottawa, Channahon, and Joliet — unlike U.S. Route 20, which in the state of Illinois mainly consists of freeway sections and bypasses around the cities U.S. 20 serves. Much like nearby U.S. Routes 30 and 52, U.S. 6 avoids the Chicago city limits.

Indiana

U.S. 6 crosses the state line and shares the same Borman Expressway with Interstate 80/94 through Hammond and Gary until State Road 51 Exit 15; it goes south for about 2 miles and turns east until it meets U.S. Route 421 in Westville, then goes south for a mile then east until it meets U.S. Route 35 and U.S. Route 31, and it shares the same road with U.S. Route 33 for about 5 miles until U.S. Route 33 breaks south toward Fort Wayne, IN at Ligonier, IN, and then it's mostly two lanes through Indiana until it meets the Ohio state line just east of Butler, Indiana. Before the Borman Expressway was completed, U.S. 6 was on Ridge Road, portions of which are now signed Business U.S. 6.

Ohio

US 6 enters Ohio from Indiana in Williams County. It travels just south of Bryan before it passes through Napoleon, Bowling Green, and Fremont, before turning northeast towards Sandusky Bay and Lake Erie. After passing through Sandusky, the route follows the southern shore of Lake Erie, passing through Huron, Vermilion. After crossing the Charles Berry Bridge in Lorain, it passes through the western suburbs of Greater Cleveland as Lake Road in Sheffield Lake, Avon Lake, Bay Village, and Rocky River, and Clifton Boulevard in Lakewood and the West Blvd./Edgewater neighborhood of Cleveland proper. U.S. 6 follows the Cleveland Memorial Shoreway into Downtown Cleveland, entering Downtown by crossing the Detroit-Superior Bridge. U.S. 6 follows Superior Avenue through Public Square and the East Side of Cleveland before turning east onto Euclid Avenue in East Cleveland and Chardon Road in the city of Euclid. U.S. 6 continues eastward through Geauga county and finally into Ashtabula county before leaving Ohio Ashtabula County, slightly north of the Pymatuning Reservoir.

Alternate U.S. 6

Alternate US 6 parallels U.S. 6, its western terminus being at the U.S. 6/SR 2 concurrency just west of the Rocky River; its eastern terminus is just west of the Cuyahoga River and about a mile west of Public Square (in Downtown Cleveland). US 20 runs concurrent with ALT 6 for 0.2 miles while they cross the Rocky River. Nearly all of of its 7-mile span follows Detroit Avenue's alignment through Lakewood, and Cleveland. The far western portion in Rocky River follows Detroit Road and Old Lake Road.
Alternate 6 exists to provide a route for truck traffic, as commercial vehicles are prohibited on Clifton Blvd.

Pennsylvania

US 6 runs for 394 miles in Pennsylvania between its entrance point 20 miles west of Meadville and its exit at Matamoras. From the Ohio border to U.S. Route 322 in Conneaut Lake, the route runs in a southeast direction. US 6 then joins US 322 and heads east to Meadville, picking up U.S. Route 19 west of the city. South of downtown, US 322 splits from the concurrency while US 6 and US 19 remain concurrent through Meadville. The two routes continue northward to Mill Village, where US 6 and US 19 split at a junction with U.S. Route 6N.
For the remainder of its routing in Pennsylvania, US 6 runs roughly parallel to the New York-Pennsylvania border. Along the way, US 6 is concurrent with U.S. Route 62 for a short distance near Warren. U.S. Route 11 joins US 6 from the north in Factoryville. They run concurrently to North Scranton where US 11 continues south and US 6 east. At Milford, US 6 meets U.S. Route 209. The two routes embark to the northeast, crossing the Delaware River from Matamoras to Port Jervis.

New York

The 79 mile portion of US 6 in New York is located primarily in Orange County, with lengthy stretches in Putnam County and Westchester County and a small segment in Rockland County. The route enters the state along with US 209 in Port Jervis. The two routes split just north of town, with US 209 taking a more northerly routing to access Kingston. US 6, in contrast, runs primarily east-west through New York.
A section of US 6 runs concurrent with New York State Route 17 (the Quickway) between Goshen and Harriman. At Harriman, NY 17 becomes an at-grade road and heads south while US 6 remains a limited-access highway as it heads east into Harriman State Park. Near the east side of the park, US 6 intersects the Palisades Interstate Parkway and runs concurrent to the road to the Bear Mountain Bridge, where US 6 is joined by U.S. Route 202 as it crosses the Hudson River.
On the other side of the river, US 6 and US 202 run along the Hudson to Peekskill, where the two routes split, allowing US 6 to continue to the northeast into Putnam County. In Brewster, US 6 meets US 202 once again. The routes become intertwined once more, running concurrent with one another into Connecticut.

Connecticut

U.S. 6 extends for 116.3 miles in Connecticut. It begins in the city of Danbury after crossing the New York state line, concurrent with US 202 and ends at the Rhode Island state line in the town of Killingly. In western Connecticut, U.S. 6 either closely parallels or is overlapped with Interstate 84, serving as the local route in the suburbs of Danbury, Waterbury, and Hartford. It crosses the Connecticut River (overlapped with I-84 and U.S. Route 44) on the Bulkeley Bridge. In eastern Connecticut, U.S. 6 is one of the principal routes connecting Hartford and Providence, passing through the small urban areas of Willimantic and Danielson. The unsigned portion of the Connecticut Turnpike then meets with U.S. 6 shortly before crossing the Rhode Island state line.

Rhode Island

US 6 covers approximately 26.5 miles in Rhode Island from Foster (western border with Killingly, CT) to East Providence (eastern border with Seekonk, MA). In and around Providence, US 6 overlaps with RI 10 as well as US 1A and US 44 and interstate highways 95 and 195.

Massachusetts

U.S. 6 runs approximately 117.5 miles in Massachusetts. It parallels Interstate 195 between Providence, RI and Wareham, Massachusetts and serves as the local business route. U.S. 6 continues onto Cape Cod across the Sagamore Bridge as a freeway from Bourne to Orleans. North of Orleans, it becomes a surface road again to its terminus in Provincetown.

History

New England

The first interstate numbering along the path of US 6 was Route 3 (NE-3) of the New England road marking system, designated in 1922. This route connected Provincetown with the Connecticut-New York border via Providence, Hartford, and Danbury. In late 1925, the Joint Board on Interstate Highways approved the preliminary plan for U.S. Highways. US 6 was restricted to New England and southeastern New York, with its vague description matching the existing Route 3 to Danbury, Connecticut, and heading west from there to U.S. Route 7 at Brewster, New York. By the time the final plan was approved in late 1926, a second section had been added, from the New York-Pennsylvania border at Port Jervis, New York west to U.S. Route 120 in Kane, Pennsylvania. This didn't last long, for the April 1927 route log shows the eastern segment running only to the border of New York, short of Brewster, while the western segment was extended in both directions - east to Kingston, New York, and west to Erie, Pennsylvania (the latter replacing part of US 120). The western segment was also swapped with U.S. Route 106 between Carbondale and Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania, taking US 6 through Scranton. The gap through New York was eliminated in 1928 with a new alignment across the state, crossing the Hudson River on the Bear Mountain Bridge; the old route between Kingston and Port Jervis became the first U.S. Route 6N.
While US 6 replaced the general corridor of Route 3 in New England, some portions used different alignments. One of these was on Cape Cod, where Route 3 had used a southerly alignment that's now Route 28. Instead, US 6 followed the more direct route between Buzzards Bay and Orleans that had been the southern extremity of Route 6, and now known as Route 6A. Further west, in Connecticut, US 6 ran via South Coventry, while Route 3 had served Andover; the old route became U.S. Route 6A. US 6 is now on the old Route 3, while the South Coventry route now carries Route 31. A different alignment was also chosen for US 6 between Plainville and Woodbury; Route 3 ran via Milldale and Waterbury, and became parts of Route 14 and Route 10 in the 1932 renumbering. Here US 6 mostly remains on its original routing, with the main difference being between Hartford and Terryville, where US 6 followed the present Route 4, Route 10, and Route 72. The final difference was from Danbury west to the New York state line; here US 6 ran straight west, while Route 3 had left the Danbury area to the south, curving to the southwest through Ridgefield to the border. Part of this became U.S. Route 7, while the rest became Route 35 in 1932. The original route, which soon became US 6N, replaced Route 50, and is now part of U.S. Route 209. The part of US 6 in Pennsylvania replaced Route 7, also known as the Roosevelt Highway, an auto trail.

Extensions

Two other routes that would become part of US 6 were included in the 1925 plan: U.S. Route 32 from Chicago, Illinois to Omaha, Nebraska, and U.S. Route 38 from Lincoln, Nebraska, to Greeley, Colorado. To connect western Pennsylvania to central Indiana, relatively minor roads and on June 21, 1937 the American Association of State Highway Officials made US 6 (and thus the Roosevelt Highway) a transcontinental route from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to Long Beach, California. It took a new route from Wiggins, Colorado, southwest to Denver (the old route to Greeley became an extended U.S. Route 34) and west over the Rocky Mountains to Leadville, overlapping U.S. Route 24 to Grand Junction and U.S. Route 50 to Spanish Fork, Utah. From Spanish Fork to Ely, Nevada, it followed a roadway that had yet to be improved in areas; the rest of the route, from Ely to Southern California, followed the old Midland Trail, running almost north-south in California. The unimproved segment from Ely east to Delta, Utah, about 160 miles (260 km) long, was, according to Business Week, "nothing but a wagon trail-rutted, filled with dust...one of the worst chunks of federal [sic] road in the country." Paving was completed in September 1952, with a two-day celebration in Delta marking the occasion.

Modern history

As part of the 1964 renumbering in California, US 6 was truncated to its intersection with U.S. Route 395 at Bishop. The portion that didn't overlap other routes, including US 395 and State Route 11, was redesignated State Route 14.
Starting in the spring of 1983 U.S. 6 was a discontinuous route for almost one year, due to a massive landslide that destroyed the town of Thistle, Utah. The highway was rebuilt by blasting a path higher up the canyon wall. The landslide remains the most costly in the history of the United States.

Further Information

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