U.S. Route 6
U.S. Route 6 or U.S. Highway 6, also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the United States Numbered Highway System. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to Provincetown, Massachusetts, the route has been modified several times. The highway's longest-lasting routing, from 1936 to 1964, had its western terminus at Long Beach, California. During this time, US 6 was the longest highway in the country.
In 1964, the state of California renumbered its highways, and most of the route within California was transferred to other highways. This dropped the highway's length below that of US 20, making it the second-longest U.S. Route in the country. However, since US 20 has a discontinuity through Yellowstone National Park, US 6 remains the longest continuous U.S. Route in the country.
US 6 is a diagonal route, whose number is out of sequence with the rest of the U.S. Route grid in the Western U.S. When it was designated in 1926, US 6 only ran east of Erie, Pennsylvania. Subsequent extensions, largely replacing the former U.S. Route 32 and U.S. Route 38, have taken it south of US 30 at Joliet, Illinois, US 40 near Denver, Colorado, and US 50 at Ely, Nevada.
US 6 does not serve a major transcontinental corridor, unlike other highways. George R. Stewart, author of U.S. 40: Cross Section of the United States of America, initially considered US 6, but realized that "Route 6 runs uncertainly from nowhere to nowhere, scarcely to be followed from one end to the other, except by some devoted eccentric".
Route description
California
The modern US 6 in California is a short, two-lane, north–south surface highway from Bishop to the Nevada state line. Prior to the 1964 state highway renumbering, US 6 extended to Long Beach along what is now US 395, State Route 14, Interstate 5, I-110/SR 110, and SR 1. Despite the fact that the renumbering removed all freeway portions, it is still part of the California Freeway and Expressway System. US 6's former routing included a short segment of the famous Arroyo Seco Parkway.Currently, US 6 begins at US 395 in Bishop and heads north between farms and ranches in Chalfant at the base of the western escarpment of the White Mountains. After about, Benton is reached, which has a cafe and gas station. SR 120 begins here, heading west past Mono Lake through Lee Vining, over Tioga Pass, and through Yosemite National Park to the San Joaquin Valley. US 6 continues north to the Nevada state line.
Nevada
From the California state line, US 6 heads northeast through the semidesert Queen Valley with Boundary Peak, Nevada's highest summit, and Montgomery Peak in California on the right. These twin peaks are the northernmost high summits of the White Mountains, both over. The highway then climbs into pinyon–juniper woodland and crosses Montgomery Pass.From the pass, US 6 descends into barren shadscale desert, passing Columbus Marsh on the left, then merging with US 95 from Coaldale Junction to Tonopah. The Nevada Test and Training Range begins about southeast of Tonopah.
Just east of Tonopah, US 6 continues east across a series of desert mountain ranges and valleys, including the Monitor Range. At Warm Springs, SR 375, also known as the "Extraterrestrial Highway", departs to the southeast and US 6 assumes a northeasterly alignment across the Reveille, Pancake, Grant and White Pine ranges. Rainfall increases eastward, so valleys become less barren and peaks over add scenic interest.
Ely is the largest city on US 6 in Nevada. US 50 joins US 6 at Ely. East of Ely, US 6/US 50 cross the Schell Creek Range, known for verdant forests and meadows and for a large mule deer and elk population. The highway descends to Spring Valley, then crosses the Snake Range at Sacramento Pass, north of Nevada's second-highest mountain, Wheeler Peak, where a branch road accesses Great Basin National Park. Beyond the pass, US 6 passes just north of Baker, a Mormon farming community, and reaches the Utah state line.
Utah
US 6 enters Utah concurrently with US 50 in a remote portion of the Great Basin Desert; the routes separate at Delta. US 6 then proceeds on a northeast course toward the Wasatch Front serving the Tintic and Eureka historic and mining districts along the way. Upon entering the Wasatch Front, at Santaquin, the route joins I-15 to Spanish Fork, which is where US 6 reverses course on a southeastern path away from the Wasatch front, also joining with US 89 for the journey through Spanish Fork canyon. After cresting the Wasatch Range via Soldier Summit, the route descends into Utah's coal country, which is where it joins US 191. At Green River, those two routes join I-70 and rejoin US 50. From Green River east the routes travel concurrently using the route of I-70 following the southern rim of the Book Cliffs. US 191 leaves the concurrency at Crescent Junction but the other three routes remain concurrent as they continue to follow the Book Cliffs toward the Grand Valley into Colorado.Colorado
US 6 is basically parallel to, or runs concurrently with, I-70 for a significant portion of its length as it generally heads east from the Utah state line through about half of Denver. It is unsigned while it is overlapped. It separates to become I-70 Business through the south side of Grand Junction, rejoining I-70 just east of Palisade. It again separates west of Rifle and runs through Antlers, Silt, New Castle, and Chacra until it again joins I-70. It separates from and runs parallel to, I-70 at Dotsero, where the Eagle River joins the Colorado River. It again joins I-70 just east of Avon, the location of the Beaver Creek Resort, just a bit west of Vail. A significant departure from I-70 occurs at Silverthorne where it veers a bit south then north, avoiding the nearly tunnel on I-70 as it goes under the Continental Divide. It passes Keystone Resort and Arapahoe Basin before a steep climb to the highest altitude along US 6,, at Loveland Pass, where it crosses the Continental Divide. It continues down the Clear Creek valley as it again reaches I-70 at the Loveland Ski Area straddling the eastern mouth of the Eisenhower Tunnel. Slightly east of Idaho Springs, it separates to go through the scenic Clear Creek Canyon. At Golden, it combines with 6th Avenue to head south until it again crosses paths with I-70. Then, continuing east, it passes through Lakewood and west Denver as the 6th Avenue freeway. From near the eastern terminus of the 6th Avenue freeway, US 6 takes a convoluted route through Denver. First, it turns north on I-25, then heads east on I-70 to Vasquez Boulevard through Elyria-Swansea. The route emerges from the freeway alongside US 85 through Commerce City, where the pair briefly join State Highway 2 before separating at Colorado Boulevard. SH 2 represents the historic alignment of US 6 northeast to Brighton, while US 6 combines with I-76, heading northeast, until east of Brush. It then separates to join I-76 Bus. until it crosses I-76 east of Sterling, where it changes direction from the Interstate. It continues east until it reaches Nebraska. The last town in Colorado that it passes is Holyoke.Nebraska
From the Colorado state line, US 6 starts going southeast. The first town it goes into is Imperial. US 6 runs concurrently with US 34 near Culbertson, passing through McCook. US 6 then moves to the northeast, through Hastings. At Hastings, US 34 diverges and moves north. US 6 parallels I-80 north of Milford until it reaches Lincoln. At Lincoln, US 6 becomes West "O" Street, Sun Valley Boulevard, and eventually Cornhusker Highway as it moves north of I-80 outside of the city, paralleling I-80 to Gretna. There US 6 moves due north and becomes the West Dodge Expressway and Dodge Street in Omaha. It passes through Downtown Omaha on parallel one-way streets and runs concurrently with I-480 in Omaha on its last Nebraska segment. East of Omaha, it crosses the Missouri River to enter Iowa at Council Bluffs, 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
From the Nebraska state line, US 6 enters Iowa at Council Bluffs, across the Missouri River from Omaha where it intersects I‑29 within the first mile. Through Council Bluffs, it travels south concurrent with I‑29, then turns east to run concurrent with I‑29 and I‑80. Where I-29 and I-80 split, US 6 continues northeast concurrent with I-80. The concurrency with I-80 ends at the interchange with East Kanesville Boulevard, on the northeast side of Council Bluffs, at which point US 6 turns east to run through rural Pottawattamie County. Further east, the highway briefly overlaps US 59 near Oakland and continues east until Lewis. There, it turns sharply north-northeast to Atlantic where joins US 71 until I‑80. It overlaps I‑80 between US 71 and US 169 at De Soto. US 6 travels north with US 169 to Adel, then turns east to go toward Des Moines. It enters the Des Moines metro area along Hickman Road in Waukee and then forms the border between Urbandale to the north and Clive and Windsor Heights to the south. In Des Moines, Iowa Highway 28 joins US 6 at 63rd Street, and the two highways head east and north on Merle Hay Road. US 6 splits away at Douglas Avenue and it continues east. Near the Des Moines River, Douglas Avenue becomes Euclid Avenue. In the northeastern part of the city, it intersects US 69 and I‑235. The highway turns onto Hubbell Avenue and heads into Altoona where it meets US 65 and rejoins I‑80.East of the Des Moines metropolitan area, US 6 again overlaps I‑80 until they reach Newton. There, it splits away to the north and runs parallel to the Interstate. It passes through Grinnell, Marengo, and the Amana Colonies before arriving in Coralville. In Iowa City, it passes through the University of Iowa campus on the banks of the Iowa River. The highway heads southeast from Iowa City toward West Liberty and then more easterly to Wilton. At Wilton, the highway heads north to rejoin I‑80 until they reach Davenport. After a short overlapping of I‑280, US 6 enters the city along Kimberly Road, on which it remains until I‑74. The two routes then run south to cross the Mississippi River into Illinois on the I-74 Bridge.