Route 6 Stories

Near the top of the Rocky Mountains west of Denver, as I-70 and US 6 approach the Continental Divide, the historic mining towns of Georgetown and Silver Plume sit separated by just two miles. However, it is an exceedingly tough two miles. So tough that the first railroad crossing, completed in 1884, became an early tourist attraction for its "loop" design, where the track makes a full 360 and doubles over itself, and Devil's Gate High Bridge, considered an engineering marvel at the time. The high slopes of the canyon following Clear Creek west from Georgetown create a transportation barrier. A wagon road between the two towns had interest as early as 1869 to connect Georgetown with mines to the west (14), but it was not completed until 1882 (5), and even then was regarded as dangerous (4). Early Highways Road between Silver Plume & Georgetown, 1920 US 6 did not enter the area until 1938, when it was rerouted from Greeley to Denver, and then extended throu

One of the more well-known sections of Route 6 is the eastern portion of its eastern end, in Massachusetts. This last 60 or so miles bows around Cape Cod as a busy expressway, from Sagamore to the end of the route and the end of the land, in Provincetown. Though the history of that route is a chapter in itself, this is to discuss what once was at Sagamore. Sagamore is where US 6 exits the busy expressway linking Boston to the Cape. Instead, it heads west, following the Cape Cod Canal, to link State Route 3 to State Route 25. State Route 25 eventually splits into I-495 and I-195, the latter of which continues to New Bedford and Providence. US 6, meanwhile, continues into the town of Buzzards Bay, where it leaves the canal to follow the bay of the same name on its own route to New Bedford. The Cape Cod Canal Just before exiting though, US 6 must cross the Cape Cod Canal at Sagamore. The Cape Cod Canal began construction in 1909 and was opened in 1914 after being planned, in so