U.S. Route 6 in Massachusetts

For the Route 6 that existed in the early 1920s, see Massachusetts Route 3 and U.S. Route 3.

This article is about the section of U.S. Route 6 in Massachusetts. For the entire length of the highway, see U.S. Route 6.

U.S. Route 6
Grand Army of the Republic Highway Mid-Cape Highway
Route information
Length:	117.46 mi (189.03 km)
Existed:	1926 – present
Major junctions
West end:	U.S. Route 6 in East Providence, Rhode Island
	I-195 in Swansea Route 24 in Fall River Route 140 in New Bedford Routes 25/28 in Bourne Route 3 in Bourne
East end:	Route 6A in Provincetown
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List • Bannered • Divided • Replaced Massachusetts State Highway Routes ← US 5 Route 6A → ← Route 5 N.E. Route 6A →

Route 6 is the portion of the cross-country U.S. Route 6 in the state of Massachusetts. Route 6 runs 117.46 miles (189.03 km) in the state connecting Providence, Rhode Island to Fall River, New Bedford, and Cape Cod. In the Fall River and New Bedford areas, Route 6 is a secondary highway paralleling Interstate 195. Within Cape Cod, Route 6 is the primary highway interconnecting the towns of the area.

Route description

Route 6 is a 4-lane arterial road for approximately its first 54 miles (87 km) from the Rhode Island line (crossing into Massachusetts from East Providence to Seekonk) to the Cape Cod Canal, except for sections in New Bedford (where it runs along Mill and Kempton Streets, two one-way city streets) and Fall River (where it runs along a two-lane President Avenue).

After crossing the canal via the Sagamore Bridge, it becomes a freeway, known as the Mid-Cape Highway. From Bourne to Dennis at the Exit 9A/B cloverleaf, the freeway is 4 lanes. The bridges from the Cape Cod Canal, to Oak Street in Barnstable Village (a half-mile west of Route 132), are unique in their construction since they are made out of concrete and granite. The road then reduces to a two-lane freeway with plastic stanchions posted on a small asphalt median. The two-lane freeway section has a secondary, less-formal name of "Suicide Alley", due to the high number of fatalities from head-on collisions before the median improvements were constructed. (When the two-lane freeway stretch was first built, it was marked with passing zones like any other two-lane highway. The small asphalt/stanchion median was built in stages beginning in 1989 and finishing in 1992.) The Mid-Cape Highway carries a speed limit of 55 on the standard freeway and 50 on the two-lane freeway. It remains like this until Orleans, where the freeway ends at a large rotary (Mile 90.6).

Through Eastham and North Truro, U.S. 6 is a 4-lane surface street. Through Wellfleet and southern Truro, U.S. 6 is a former 3-lane road converted to 2 lanes with shoulders. In Provincetown, U.S. 6 ends as it started in the state, as a surface expressway once again until it comes to an end at Route 6A at the Cape Cod National Seashore. For the last several miles of its existence near Provincetown Route 6 east is actually heading west-southwest.

History

New England Interstate Route 3

Before the U.S. Highway system, the route from Rhode Island to Bourne, and from Orleans to Provincetown, was part of New England Interstate Route 3 (NE-3). Within the Upper Cape, however, NE-3 went along what is now Route 28 between Bourne and Orleans. The U.S. 6 designation was instead applied to the route on the north shore of Cape Cod, which was known as New England Interstate Route 6 before 1926 (now Route 6A).

U.S. Route 6 Bypass

When U.S. 6 was first routed through Provincetown in 1926, the highway was signed along the rather narrow Commercial Street. After the Provincetown U.S. 6 bypass was built, congestion and the increasing size of automobiles forced the town to post most of Commercial Street (all but the easternmost mile that hits the Truro line) as one-way westbound. Route 6A, when signed, was placed along the paralleling Bradford Street instead. There was an alternate plan at the time to make Bradford one-way westbound and Commercial one-way eastbound (which would have made both roads Route 6A), but this was rejected, as the town decided instead to let incoming traffic through the heavy Commercial Street (almost entirely pedestrian) business district.

U.S. 6 was briefly signed on current I-195 between Route 105 and Route 28; however, when I-195 was completed, and the I-195 designation took over that section of freeway, U.S. 6 reverted back to its older route.

Formerly, U.S. 6 took both sides along the Cape Cod canal (and was signed as "BYPASS 6"), but is now routed only on the north side (The south side is now signed "TO 6" from the Sagamore Bridge to the Bourne Bridge). However, a single "BYPASS 6" sign still exists just north of the Bourne Bridge rotary.

Junction list

Seekonk to Bourne

County	Location	Milepost	Roads Intersected	Notes
Bristol	Seekonk	0.00	U.S. Route 6	U.S. Route 6 continues westbound into East Providence, RI.
		0.8	Route 114	To Interstate 195 (Exit 1). To RI Route 114.
	Swansea	4.7	Route 136	To I-195 (Exit 2).
		7.4	Interstate 195	I-195 Exit 3.
		7.8	Route 118	Southern terminus of Route 118.
	Somerset	11.1	Route 103 Route 138	Eastern terminus of Route 103. Western terminus of US-6/Route 138 concurrency.
	Fall River	11.4	Route 79 Route 138	Eastern terminus of US-6/Route 138 concurrency.
		13.5	Route 24 (Amvets Highway)	Route 24 Exit 5.
	Westport	17.7	Route 88	To Interstate 195 (Exit 10).
		20.9	Route 177	Eastern terminus of Route 177.
	New Bedford	25.6	Route 140 (Taunton-New Bedford Expy.)	Southern terminus of Route 140. To Interstate 195 (Exit 13).
		27.5	Route 18	Southern terminus of Route 18. To Interstate 195 (Exit 15).
	Fairhaven	29.8	Route 240	Southern terminus of Route 240. To Interstate 195 (Exit 18).
Plymouth	Marion	39.2	Route 105	Southern terminus of Route 105. To Interstate 195 (Exit 20).
	Wareham	45.7	Route 28	Western terminus of US-6/Route 28 concurrency. To Route 25 (Exit 2).
Barnstable	Bourne	50.4	Route 25 Route 28	Eastern terminus of US-6/Route 28 concurrency. Route 25 Exit 3.
		54.0	Route 3 (Pilgrims Highway)	Southern terminus of Route 3. Routes 3/6 Exits 1A-B.
Mid-Cape Highway begins at the interchange with in Bourne. Refer to the Exit List below for interchanges.

Exit list (Bourne to Orleans freeway)

The westbound exit numbers in Sagamore are out of order: First is Exit 1C, then Exit 1A, then Exit 1B. On the eastbound side, Exits 1A-B are combined into one exit, with three exit only lanes and US-6 shrinking down to one lane. US-6 shrinks to one lane westbound too, after Exit 1B, before gaining three lanes again.

County	Location	Exit #	Mile[1]	Route and destinations	Notes
Barnstable	Bourne	1B	54	JCT Route 3 — Quincy, Boston Sagamore Beach
		1A	54	Scusset Beach Road — Sagamore Beach
		Sagamore Bridge (Cape Cod Canal crossing)
		1C	54.8	Route 6A — Sagamore	Westbound ramps feed into old Sagamore Bridge approach (old US-6)
	Sandwich	2	58.3	Route 130 — Sandwich, Mashpee
		3	60.2	Quaker Meetinghouse Road — East Sandwich
		4	62.4	Chase Road — East Sandwich, West Barnstable
	Barnstable	5	64.8	Route 149 — Marstons Mills, West Barnstable
		6	67.6	Route 132 — West Barnstable, Hyannis
		6B	70.9	Mary Dunn Road — Hyannis, Barnstable	Proposed as 6½ to relieve congestion on exits 6 and 7
	Yarmouth	7	71.7	Willow Street — Yarmouth Port, West Yarmouth
		8	74.0	Union Street — Yarmouth, Dennis
	Dennis	9	77.2	Route 134 — Dennis Port, West Harwich, Dennis	Split into 9A and 9B
	Harwich	10	81.3	Route 124 — Harwich, Brewster
		11	83.8	Route 137 — Brewster, Chatham
	Orleans	12	88.3	Route 6A — Orleans, East Brewster
	Orleans/Eastham line	(13)	90.3	JCT at Orleans Rotary U.S. Route 6 (west) — Barnstable, Bourne U.S. Route 6 (east) — Provincetown Route 28 — Chatham Route 6A — Brewster

Orleans to Provincetown

County	Location	Mile	Roads intersected	Notes
Mid-Cape Highway ends at the Orleans Rotary intersection with on the Orleans/Eastham line.
Barnstable	Orleans	90.6	Route 6A	Southern terminus of (unsigned) US-6/Route 6A concurrency. To Route 28.
	Truro	109.4	Route 6A	Northern terminus of (unsigned) US-6/Route 6A concurrency.
	Provincetown	118.0	Route 6A	Northern terminus of Route 6A. Eastern terminus of U.S. Route 6.

The Orleans Rotary was once officially Exit 13. A sign labeling the turnoff to Routes 6A/28 once marked it as "Exit 13S", however the signage was removed in 1985.

There are also two freeway-style interchanges on the surface arterial portion in Truro. The first is near Mile 106 for the Pamet Roads, and the second is near Mile 110 for Highland Road. These exits are not numbered.

Photos

• 

  Westbound entering
  New Bedford

• 

  Southbound entering Eastham

• 

  Westbound start at Provincetown. This sign was erected in August or September 2010.

References

1. ^ Massachusetts Executive Office of Transportation. 2007. Interchange Lists (US 6). Downloaded from http://www.eot.state.ma.us/default.asp?pgid=planning/disc/interchanges&sid=dtable , August 7, 2011.

See also

Suffixed routes

• Massachusetts Route 6A, alignment in Cape Cod of Route 6 prior to the construction of the freeway segment

Related routes

• Massachusetts Route 28, the original alignment of New England Route 3 in Cape Cod
• New England Interstate Route 3, the designation of US-6 (excluding the stretch from Bourne to Orleans) prior to 1926
• New England Interstate Route 6, the designation of US-6 between Bourne and Orleans, as well as of U.S. Route 3/Route 3 prior to 1926

U.S. Route 6
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