U.S. Route 6 (US-6) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway through the central part of the U.S. state of Utah. Although it is only about longer than US-50, it serves more populated areas and, in fact, follows what had been US-50's routing until it was moved to follow Interstate 70 (I-70) in 1976. In 2009, the Utah State Legislature named part of the route the "Mike Dmitrich Highway", named after the Utah state senator, which generated controversy, as the state of Utah had previously joined with all the other states through which US-6 passes in naming all of US-6 the Grand Army of the Republic Highway.
Route description
US-6 forms an arch-shaped route with Spanish Fork at the apex. The western half of the arch is less traveled and almost entirely two-lane, passing through the Great Basin Desert, Sevier Lake, Delta, Eureka, and the Tintic Standard Reduction Mill. The eastern half of the arch is a busy transportation corridor, with significant parts having four or more lanes. This half passes over Soldier Summit and the historic railroad hub of Helper. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 519 fatal and serious injury crashes between Spanish Fork and Green River (the non-freeway portion of the eastern half of US-6) from 1996 to 2008, leading the stretch to be considered one of the deadliest roads in the U.S.
Most of the route in Utah is part of the National Highway System, including the section referenced above as well as the concurrencies with I-15, I-70, and US-50. However, the segment between Delta and Santaquin is not included in the system.
Western Utah US-6 enters Utah overlapped with US-50 in the Great Basin, a large desert that includes much of western Utah. As part of the Basin and Range Province, the terrain alternates between north–south oriented flat valleys and mountain ranges. US-6 and US-50 cross Snake Valley, the Confusion Range (through Kings Canyon), and Tule Valley and crest the House Range via Skull Rock Pass. After crossing this mountainous terrain, the road arrives at Pahvant Valley there meeting and passing along the north shore of Sevier Lake, though the road is far enough away that water is usually only visible in the spring months. After Sevier Lake, the desert becomes farm lands, finally reaching the town of Hinckley just before they split in Delta. US-6 turns to the northeast at that city, paralleling the Union Pacific Railroad (UP)'s Lynndyl Subdivision to the west of the Canyon, Gilson, and East Tintic mountains—three ranges that form the eastern boundary of the Basin and Range Province.Google Maps street maps and USGS topographic maps, accessed July 2008 via ACME Mapper
At Tintic Junction, the intersection with State Route 36 (SR-36) in the Tintic Valley, US-6 turns east and ascends the East Tintic Mountains. It passes through the mining city of Eureka near the top of the mountains, before descending into the Goshen Valley. Although it left behind the UP rail line at Tintic Junction, this part of US-6 parallels the former Tintic Branch of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad, which has been partially abandoned. After passing through Goshen, the highway curves around the north side of Warm Springs Mountain and into Utah Valley, where it enters Santaquin. On the east side of that city, US-6 begins an overlap with I-15, while the old alignment—SR-198—continues straight through Payson and Salem. After about together in the Utah Valley, I-15 and US-6 separate in Spanish Fork, the latter turning southeast onto a short two-lane expressway.
Eastern Utah SR-198 rejoins US-6 on the eastern outskirts of Spanish Fork, and soon thereafter US-89 joins at Moark Junction. The two routes—US-6 and US-89—begin an overlap here, alongside the UP Provo Subdivision (ex-Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad), following the Spanish Fork. The remainder of US-6 to the Colorado state line parallels this rail line (which becomes the Green River Subdivision at Helper). The three routes follow the Spanish Fork to Thistle where US-6 and US-89 separate.
US-6 begins climbing the Wasatch Plateau, cresting at Soldier Summit, where it finally leaves the Great Basin into the watershed of the Colorado River. It begins to descend by following tributaries of the Price River, first meeting the main stem near Colton. The Price River takes US-6 down through the Price Canyon, the west edge of the Book Cliffs, joining US-191 at Castle Gate. The land flattens and opens out at Helper, named for the helper locomotives needed to carry trains up to Soldier Summit, and US-6 continues southeasterly around Price on a two-lane freeway bypass, with the old alignment marked as both a business route and SR-55. Relatively flat land continues as US-6 parallels the Book Cliffs to the southwest and west, crossing the Price River at Woodside. West of Green River, US-6 joins I-70/US-50, which it overlaps for the remainder of its stay in Utah. Now south of the Book Cliffs, the four routes head east to Crescent Junction, where US-191 splits to the south. As it begins to approach toward the Colorado River, the highway curves northeasterly through the Grand Valley and into Colorado.
History US-6 did not enter Utah until 1936, when it was extended west from Greeley, Colorado, to Long Beach, California. The eastern half in Utah, from Colorado to Spanish Fork, overlapped US-50, but, after a short segment on US-91 to Santaquin, it followed a route that was new to the U.S. Numbered Highway System into Nevada. This road was not yet built to good standards; while it was improved to Hinckley, the remainder across the desert was a graded earth road. It was not paved all the way until 1952, when a new alignment was completed from Hinckley into Nevada;Richard F. Weingroff, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. 6: The Grand Army of the Republic Highway, accessed July 2008 within a few years, US-50 was moved from a long overlap with US-40 (now I-80) south to the new road, completely overlapping US-6 through Utah.Nevada Department of Highways, 1954 Official Highway Map of Nevada, Prepared by Rand McNally & Company US-50 was moved farther south in 1976, due to the completion of I-70 across the San Rafael Swell, separating the two routes between Delta and Green River. , updated October 2007, accessed May 2008
Utah Valley to Colorado The road from SR-1 (US-91 by 1926, now at the junction of SR-156 and SR-198) in Spanish Fork southeast via Price and Green River to the Colorado state line became a state highway in 1912, with the final section—Spanish Fork to Colton—being added in May.Grand Valley Times, Grand County Road is Designated State Highway, May 24, 1912, p. 4 However, the original route was somewhat longer than present-day US-6, most notably between Price and Green River, where travelers went south from Price to Castle Dale via present SR-10 and then east to Green River via what are now county roads north of the San Rafael River (partly along an old never-used Denver and Rio Grande (D&RG) Railroad gradeEastern Utah Advocate, , March 13, 1913, p. 1). Other differences included going southeast from Green River to Valley City and northeast to Thompson Springs.Washington County News, , August 1, 1912, p. 1 New construction through Price Canyon between Kyune and Castle Gate was made easier by the presence of the D&RG Railroad in the canyon.Carbon County News, , May 9, 1912, p. 1Carbon County News, , August 15, 1912, p. 1 Later that year, the Midland Trail Association was organized in Grand Junction, Colorado, to promote a transcontinental auto trail that would include this road.Carbon County News, , November 7, 1912, p. 1
A 1913 law provided state funding to counties to construct the Midland Trail, with a general route defined. Initially it was to follow the present US-6 via Woodside between Price and Green River, but an amendment changed it to the existing state road through Buckhorn Flat (east of Castle Dale).Carbon County News, , March 13, 1913, p. 1Carbon County News, , March 27, 1913, p. 1 Travelers began using the Midland Trail through eastern Utah in early July 1913, and the road through Price Canyon, replacing a detour via Willow Creek Canyon (US-191) and Emma Park,Eastern Utah Advocate, , July 3, 1913, p. 3 was completed by the men of Price later that month.Eastern Utah Advocate, , July 17, 1913, p. 1 A. L. Westgard of the National Highways Association praised the improvements to the road since the previous year, singling out the Price Canyon segment as "almost beyond comprehension".Eastern Utah Advocate, , July 24, 1913, p. 1 Although it was hoped that it would become part of the Lincoln Highway, the high mountain passes in Colorado convinced that association to designate a route farther north through Wyoming in September 1913. Midland Trail promoters were not discouraged; instead, they were determined to continue to improve to the route to make it better than the Lincoln Highway.Carbon County News, , September 4, 1913, p. 1
The shorter route via Woodside rather than Castle Dale was considered again in 1916, due to problems with maintaining the latter and a new bridge over the Price River at Woodside,Eastern Utah Advocate, , January 21, 1916, p. 8 and it was adopted as a state road in April. The piece northwest of Sunnyside Junction had already been designated as part of a state road to Sunnyside, the rest of which still exists as SR-123. A cutoff from Springville south to Moark Junction via Mapleton was also added that year.Fourth Biennial Report, State Road Commission, 1915 and 1916, pp. 80, 114, 294
A 1919 law redefined the state highway system to include only a short list of roads and any federal-aid projects. At the urging of Grand County, the route that corresponded to the Midland Trail was realigned to the longer but more scenic road along the Colorado River between Moab and Cisco, including the new Dewey Bridge.Grand Valley Times, Adoption of River Road as State Highway is Probable, March 7, 1919, p. 1Grand Valley Times, Gives Reasons for Building River Road, March 7, 1919, p. 5Grand Valley Times, Midland Trail Will Come down River by Way of Moab, Legislature Decides, March 14, 1919, p. 14 In response to a Carbon County request, the law also removed Price Canyon from the route, instead taking it along the older road through Willow Creek Canyon and Emma Park.Grand Valley Times, Good Roads Man Finds Midland Trail O. K., October 9, 1919, p. 1 Finally, the older route from Spanish Fork to Moark Junction was dropped in favor of the 1916 addition from Springville. Four years later, both counties had changed their minds,The News-Advocate, Paving Must Come in 1923; Work on Details is Pushed , February 1, 1923, p. 1 and the legislature changed the route back. The Moab–Cisco River Road was entirely dropped (though it was redesignated in the early 1930s as SR-128), but both the Price Canyon and Emma Park routes remained. Also that year, the Bureau of Public Roads approved Utah's seven percent federal-aid system in accordance with the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921, including the Springville–Colorado segment of the Midland Trail.Washington County News, , June 21, 1923, p. 1