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 route, see U.S. Route 6.

U.S. Route 6 marker

U.S. Route 6

Grand Army of the Republic Highway

Route information

Maintained by MassDOT

Length:

118.0 mi (189.9 km)

Existed:

1926 – present

Major junctions

West end:

US 6 in East Providence, RI

I‑195 in Swansea

Route 24 in Fall River

Route 140 in New Bedford

Route 25 / Route 28 in Bourne

Route 3 in Bourne

East end:

Route 6A in Provincetown

Highway system

United States Numbered Highways

Massachusetts State Highway System

← Route 5A		Route 6A →
← Route 5	N.E.	Route 6A →

Route 6 is the portion of the cross-country U.S. Route 6 highway 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

Seekonk to the Sagamore Bridge

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).

Cape Cod

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 is locally maintained, and ends as it started in the state, as a surface expressway once again before meeting 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 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 along Sandwich Road just north of the Bourne Bridge rotary.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi^[1]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Bristol	Seekonk	0.0	0.0		US 6 west – East Providence	Continuation into Rhode Island
	Seekonk	0.8	1.3		Route 114A to I‑195 / RI 114
	Swansea	4.7	7.6		Route 136 to I‑195 – Rehoboth, Seekonk
		7.4	11.9		I‑195 – Providence, RI, Fall River, Cape Cod	Exit 3 on I-195
		7.8	12.6		Route 118 north – Swansea Mall, Attleboro	Southern terminus of Route 118
	Somerset	11.1	17.9		Route 103 north / Route 138	Eastern terminus of Route 103; Western terminus of concurrency with Route 138
	Fall River	11.4	18.3		Route 79 / Route 138 south – Fall River, Boston	Interchange; Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 138
	Fall River	13.5	21.7		Route 24 to I‑195 – Boston, Newport, RI	Rotary; Exit 5 on Route 24
	Westport	17.7	28.5		Route 88 to I‑195 – Horseneck Beach	Interchange
	Westport	20.9	33.6		Route 177 west – Tiverton, RI	Eastern terminus of Route 177
	Dartmouth				Reed Road to I-195
	Dartmouth				Faunce Corner Road to I-195
	New Bedford	25.6	41.2		Route 140 north to I‑195 – Taunton, Boston	Southern terminus of Route 140; Exit 1 on Route 140
	New Bedford	27.5	44.3		Route 18 north to I‑195	Southern terminus of Route 18; Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
	Acushnet River			Fish Island Bridge
	Acushnet River			Fairhaven Bridge
	Fairhaven	29.8	48.0		Route 240 north to I‑195 – Fall River, Cape Cod	Southern terminus of Route 240
Plymouth	Marion	39.2	63.1		Route 105 north to I‑195 – Rochester	Southern terminus of Route 105
	Wareham	45.7	73.5		Route 28 north (Cranberry Highway) / Maple Springs Road to Route 25 west	Western terminus of concurrency with Route 28
	Wareham				Glen Charlie Road to Route 25 east
Barnstable	Bourne	50.4	81.1		Route 25 west / Route 28 south (Bourne Bridge) to I‑195 / I‑495 – Falmouth, The Islands	Buzzards Bay Rotary; Eastern terminus of concurrency with Route 28; Exit 3 on Route 25
		54.0	86.9		Route 3 north / Scusset Beach Road – Boston	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; exits 1A-B on Route 3
		54.2	87.2	1B	Route 3 north – Plymouth, Boston	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; southern terminus of Route 3
		54.4	87.5	1A	Scusset Beach Road – Sagamore Beach	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		54.6	87.9	Sagamore Bridge over the Cape Cod Canal
		54.8	88.2	1C	Route 6A / Mid-Cape Connector – Sagamore	Westbound ramps feed into old Sagamore Bridge approach (old US 6)
	Sandwich	58.3	93.8	2	Route 130 – Sandwich, Mashpee
		60.2	96.9	3	Quaker Meetinghouse Road – East Sandwich
		62.4	100.4	4	Chase Road – East Sandwich, West Barnstable
	Barnstable	64.8	104.3	5	Route 149 – Marstons Mills, West Barnstable
		67.6	108.8	6	Route 132 – West Barnstable, Hyannis	Serves Cape Cod Community College; Nantucket Island ferries
		70.9	114.1	6B	Mary Dunn Road – Hyannis, Barnstable	Proposed to relieve congestion on exits 6 and 7
	Yarmouth	71.7	115.4	7	Willow Street – Yarmouth Port, West Yarmouth
	Yarmouth	74.0	119.1	8	Union Street – Yarmouth, Dennis
	Dennis	77.2	124.2	9	Route 134 – Dennis Port, West Harwich, Dennis	Split into exits 9A (south) and 9B (north)
	Harwich	81.3	130.8	10	Route 124 – Harwich, Brewster
	Harwich	83.8	134.9	11	Route 137 – Brewster, Chatham
	Orleans	88.3	142.1	12	Route 6A – Orleans, East Brewster
		90.3	145.3	13	Route 6A west to Route 28 south / Rock Harbor Road – Orleans, Eastham	Orleans Rotary; exit number signage was removed in 1985
		90.6	145.8		Route 6A west to Route 28 south – Orleans	Southern terminus of silent concurrency with Route 6A
	Truro	106.0	170.6		Pamet Roads— Truro Center	Interchange
		109.4	176.1		Route 6A north (Shore Road) – North Truro, Beach Point	Northern terminus of silent concurrency with Route 6A
		110.0	177.0		Highland Road – North Truro, Highland Light	Interchange
	Provincetown	116.3	187.2		Race Point Road – Race Point, Provincetown Airport
	Provincetown	118.0	189.9		Route 6A south / Province Lands Road – Provincetown	Northern terminus of Route 6A; Eastern terminus of US 6
	1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus Incomplete access Unopened