Route 6 - A Primer

US Route 6 slopes gently clear across the United States. Otherwise known by the vaguely communist moniker, The Grand Army of the Republic Highway, Route 6 begins at the tip of Cape Cod in Provincetown, MA, and slants slightly southward, making its way west through 14 states. Then, at the Nevada/California border, Route 6 drops off precipitously, like the end of a good Viagra run, south to Long Beach, CA. Or at least it used to before the California powers that be decided to truncate the route in the tumbleweed tract of Bishop in 1964, lopping over 300 miles off its notable length.

Route 6 is not the oldest transcontinental road. That distinction goes to the graveled 1914 Lincoln Highway, which grew from the idealistic mind of Carl Fisher, founder of the Indianapolis 500 and who would later create Miami Beach out of a malarial Florida swamp. At 3,205 miles, Route 6 is not even currently the longest coast-to-coast road in America. That would be US Route 20; 3,345 miles from Boston, MA to Newport Oregon.

But before California went rogue with its routes in the crazy-mod 60’s, US Route 6 had been the longest transcontinental road for several glorious decades, stretching out at an impressive 3652 miles.