U.S. Highway 6 (US 6) is a part of the

United States Numbered Highway System The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these ...

that travels from

Bishop, California Bishop (formerly Bishop Creek) is the only incorporated city in Inyo County, California, United States. It is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley within the Mojave Desert, at an elevation of . The city was named after Bishop Creek ...

, to

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Provi ...

. In the U.S. state of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, US 6 is an east–west highway stretching from

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. Much of the route overlaps other highways in Colorado, and, as a result, much of US 6 is unsigned.

Route description

Western Slope

U.S. Highway 6 begins in

at the

state line, concurrent with Interstate 70 as well as U.S. Highway 50. At Interstate 70 exit 11, U.S. Highway 6 & 50 end their concurrency with Interstate 70 and begin using the old highway alignment directly north of Interstate 70 while they travel through the communities of Mack, Loma, and Fruita. These communities were bypassed by Interstate 70. In Fruita routes 6 and 50 intersect State Highway 340, the gateway to the Colorado National Monument. The monument's sandstone canyons and rock spires are visible to the south from the highways. U.S. Highway 6 & 50 meet again with Interstate 70 at exit 26 where they begin a concurrent segment with Interstate 70 Business. The three routes travel southeast through downtown Grand Junction. U.S. Highway 6 ends its concurrency with U.S. Highway 50 and Interstate 70 Business with an interchange just west of North 1st Street. It continues east concurrent with North Avenue until rejoining Interstate 70 Business at Centennial Rd. They continue until rejoining Interstate 70 just west of the intersection of County Rd. 33 and County Rd. G. They then continue concurrently through Palisade and until just west of Rifle, where US6 continues parallel and north of the Colorado River. Eventually, it again rejoins I70 at Chacra until separating once again at Glenwood Springs, rejoining at I70 and 6th St. 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 and then north, avoiding the nearly two-mile-long (3.2 km) 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, 11,990 feet (3,650 m), at Loveland Pass, where it crosses the Continental Divide.

Eastern Slope

Loveland Pass, where U.S. Highway 6 crosses the Continental Divide, drops down to rejoin I70 as it comes out of the Eisenhower/Johnson tunnels at the Loveland Ski Area. 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.

When the highway enters the western Denver suburbs, US 6 coincidentally aligns with 6th Avenue in the grid system, where it is known as 6th Avenue Freeway. Once it reaches I-25, US 6 travels north briefly, then follows I-76 for most of its length east of Denver. It is unsigned while it is overlapped. 6408-LovelandPassCOLO

The highest altitude along US 6 is at Loveland Pass, where it crosses the Continental Divide. It continues down the Clear Creek valley until it reaches I-70, where it is briefly overlapped until I-70 leaves the Clear Creek valley. US 6 continues down Clear Creek and into Denver, where it turns into a freeway with six lanes. East of Denver, it continues east while joined with I-76 until it reaches Sterling, where it diverges from the Interstate. The last town in Colorado through which it passes is

Holyoke Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,247. Loca ...

History

Major intersections

References

External links