Introduction

Tour extends from the Newhall Pass
near Los Angeles, California to the Utah / Nevada State Line.
Approximately 620 miles total

Future extension to Spanish Fork, UT, adding 175 miles to the tour (800 miles total)

Tour Index

Start Tour of US 6

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History

US 6 started out as a short route in Massachusetts in 1926 until it was slowly extended west to Colorado. In 1937, US 6 was finally extended to Long Beach, CA, making it a truly transcontinental route. This extension also made the highway the longest signed route in the United States, with a total of 3,662 miles from Provincetown, MA to Long Beach, CA. From Santa Clarita to the Antelope Valley, the road was formerly known as the Mint Canyon Road or Mint Canyon Highway. The roadway from Mojave to Bishop was known as El Camino Sierra, or The Sierra Highway. The former alignment of US 6 from Santa Clarita to Mojave is still called Sierra Highway today.

Before the advent of numbered routes, US 6 was known as the Midland Trail from the Newhall Pass to near Big Pine, CA in the Owens Valley. US 6 also had the name of “Grand Army of the Republic Highway”, a name which is still carries. Today, US 6 begins at the northern end of Bishop, CA at the junction with US 395.

The roadways that would become US 6 mostly developed as wagon trails which were later improved as State Highways in the early 1920’s. The route was developed as the best road from the Los Angeles area to the Eastern Sierra. As traffic increased, the roadway was gradually widened and realigned for safety and capacity. The section from the Newhall Pass north to near Mojave had enough traffic to eventually warrant a full freeway, albeit after US 6 was cut back to Bishop, CA following the opening of the first segment of the Antelope Valley Freeway on October 15, 1963. By the mid-2020’s, all of State 14, the current highway, should be four lanes.

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Signage

The first signage along what would become US 6 in California came in 1934 in the form of a State Highway shield. SR-7, as it was known, would be signed along old US 6 from Bishop to Newhall Pass. In 1935, US 395 was extended along the US 6 corridor from Bishop to Inyokern. In 1937, US 6 was finally extended from its Denver, Colorado terminus to Long Beach, California. The routing it followed from Bishop, CA was along US 395, SR-14, I-5, SR-110, and SR-1, finally ending at the intersection of Pacific Coast Highway and Atlantic Blvd (old Jct. SR-15). Upon completion of the first section of the Antelope Valley Freeway on October 15, 1963, US 6 was shortened to Bishop and was designated as SR-14 from Inyokern (Jct US 395) to Newhall Pass (Jct US 99). The only segment of old US 6 not to be signed as SR-14 was the segment of Sierra Highway from Solemint Junction, CA to Red Rover Mine Road near Acton, CA.

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Hollywood Freeway Alignment

There was one alignment of US 6 that was planned, but only partially signed in the Los Angeles area. The Hollywood Freeway, signed currently as SR-170, was planned to be the US 6 freeway from current I-5 to US 101. US 6 would have diverged from US 99 in Arleta and then followed current SR-170 to US 101. It would have then followed US 101 to the Four Level Interchange, where it would rejoin its older routing down the Harbor Freeway. This routing was briefly signed in 1962 on the southern end of the (SR-170) Hollywood Freeway at US 101.

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Maps and Documents

• 1938 Brochure of US 6 and US 395 from Los Angeles to Reno

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Other US 6 Pages:

• US Route 6 Tourist Association
• Eastern End of US 6 on Cape Cod by Dale Sanderson
• Casey Cooper’s Finding US 6
• FHWA – Grand Army of the Republic Highway