U.S. Highway 6 (US 6) in the U.S. state of

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

is a highway which goes from the

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

border west of

Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...

in the west to the

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

border in the east at

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

. Significant portions of the highway are concurrent with other highways, most significantly,

U.S. Highway 34 U.S. Route 34 (US 34) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from north-central Colorado to the western suburbs of Chicago. Through Rocky Mountain National Park it is known as the Trail Ridge Road where it reaches elevation ...

between Culbertson and

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

. Also, from

Milford Milford may refer to: Place names Canada * Milford (Annapolis), Nova Scotia * Milford (Halifax), Nova Scotia * Milford, Ontario England * Milford, Derbyshire * Milford, Devon, a place in Devon * Milford on Sea, Hampshire * Milford, Shro ...

east to the Iowa border, the highway is closely paralleled by

Interstate 80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

. Large portions of the route parallel the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

Route description

Beginning of Concurrency with US-34

U.S. Highway 6 enters Nebraska from Colorado west of

on a short southeasterly segment. It turns east and stays due east until shortly before Imperial. It then goes into Imperial and meets

Nebraska Highway 61 Nebraska Highway 61 is a highway in western Nebraska. It is a north–south highway with a length of . The southern terminus of Nebraska Highway 61 is at the Kansas border south of Benkelman, where the highway continues south as K-161. The ...

. The two routes are paired together until they separate at the Enders Reservoir State Recreation Area. It goes in a generally southeasterly direction until it meets

west of Culbertson.

Western Nebraska

US 6 and US 34 continue east together through Culbertson and at McCook, is briefly concurrent with

U.S. Highway 83 U.S. Route 83 (US 83) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that extends in the central United States. Only four other north–south routes are longer: US 1, US 41, US 59, and US 87, while US ...

. US 6/34 continue together in a northeasterly direction through

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, then turns due east and meets

U.S. Highway 283 U.S. Route 283 is a spur of U.S. Route 83. It currently runs for 731 miles (1,175 km) from Brady, Texas at U.S. Route 87 to Lexington, Nebraska at U.S. Route 30. It passes through the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. Route de ...

Arapahoe The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...

. Near

Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These invention ...

, it meets

U.S. Highway 136 U.S. Route 136 is an east-west U.S. highway that is a spur route of U.S. Route 36. It runs from Edison, Nebraska, at U.S. Route 6 and U.S. Route 34 to the Interstate 74/Interstate 465 interchange in Speedway, Indiana. This is a distance of . US 13 ...

, which begins at its intersection with US 6/34. Further east, the two highways meet

Nebraska Highway 4 Nebraska Highway 4 is a highway in Nebraska. The entirety of the route is in Nebraska's southern tier of counties. Beatrice is the only city with over 1,000 in population on the highway. Its western terminus is at an intersection with US 6 and ...

and turns northeast towards

Holdrege, Nebraska Holdrege is a city in Phelps County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 5,495 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Phelps County. The Nebraska Prairie Museum is located in Holdrege. History Holdrege was established in 1883 wh ...

. In Holdrege, US 6/34 meet

U.S. Highway 183 U.S. Route 183 (US 183) is a north–south United States highway. The highway's northern terminus is in Presho, South Dakota, at an intersection with Interstate 90. Its southern terminus is in Refugio, Texas, at the southern intersection ...

. The highways continue on a northeasterly trajectory through

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the greatest town between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district (''Kreis'') of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detm ...

until Heartwell. At Heartwell, US 6/34 turns due east until

. In Hastings, US 6/34 meet

U.S. Highway 281 U.S. Route 281 (US 281) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway. At it is the longest continuous three-digit U.S. Route. The highway's northern terminus is at the International Peace Garden, north of Dunseith, North Dakota, at t ...

and US 34 separates to go with US 281 while US 6 continues eastward.

In Eastern Nebraska

US 6 continues on a due east highway from Hastings. Near

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a List of United Kingdom locations: Stu-Sz#Su, location * S ...

, the highway turns northeast to go through Sutton. It continues east and at Fairmont, US 6 encounters

U.S. Highway 81 U.S. Route 81 or U.S. Highway 81 (US 81) is a major north–south U.S. highway that extends for in the central United States and is one of the original United States Numbered Highways established in 1926 by the American Association of Stat ...

. After passing through

Friend Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. In some cultures, the concept of ...

, US 6 meets

Nebraska Highway 15 Nebraska Highway 15 (N-15) is a highway in eastern Nebraska, United States. It has a southern terminus at the Kansas border south of Fairbury and a northern terminus northeast of Maskell at the South Dakota border. Route description Nebraska ...

and the two highways overlap until shortly before

. US 6 goes east, then north out of Milford, then US 6 turns east to go towards

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

In Lancaster County

In Lincoln, US 6 comes into the city on West "O" Street, portions of which are divided highway. At Sun Valley Boulevard, it turns to go northeasterly. At North 10th Street, US 6 turns north-northwest and becomes North 11th Street, a divided highway. At Cornhusker Highway, US 6 turns east with a short urban connection to Interstate 180 on the west along Cornhusker. US 6 then follows Cornhusker Highway, which is a divided highway, northeast out of the city. At the eastern end of Cornhusker Highway (near Waverly), US 6 meets

In Omaha

From Interstate 80, US 6 goes northeast through Waverly,

Greenwood Green wood is unseasoned wood. Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to: People * Greenwood (surname) Settlements Australia * Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region * Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth C ...

and Ashland. East of Ashland, US 6 crosses the

Platte River The Platte River () is a major river in the State of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itself ...

. After that, US 6 meets

Nebraska Highway 31 Nebraska Highway 31 is a highway in Nebraska. The southern terminus is near Louisville at an intersection with Nebraska Highway 50. The northern terminus is near Kennard at an intersection with U.S. Highway 30. The highway serves as a main nort ...

in Gretna, where US 6 turns north with NE 31 on a divided highway. US 6/NE 31 meet

U.S. Highway 275 U.S. Route 275 (US 275) is a north–south United States highway that is a branch of US 75. It originally terminated at US 75 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The highway's northern terminus is in O'Neill, Nebraska, at an intersection with U.S. High ...

and

Nebraska Highway 92 Nebraska Highway 92 is a highway that enters the state from Nebraska's western border at the Wyoming state line west of Lyman, Nebraska, to the state's eastern border on the South Omaha Veterans Memorial Bridge over the Missouri River in Omaha, w ...

near the Elkhorn neighborhood of Omaha and they separate in Elkhorn itself at a freeway interchange which also has

Nebraska Link 28B Nebraska Link 28B (L-28B) is a connecting link (Nebraska), connecting link highway which connects U.S. Route 275 west of Omaha to U.S. Route 6 (Nebraska), U.S. Route 6 in Omaha. The highway is a long part of a freeway which stretches to Fremont, ...

, a connector to US 275. At this point, US 6 goes onto the freeway, the West Dodge Expressway, and turns due east to go towards downtown

. At 137th Street is the exit for Boys Town. Between 120th and 108th Streets, US 6 is an elevated freeway with separate viaducts for eastbound and westbound traffic. Shortly after this ends, US 6 meets Interstate 680. East of I-680, US 6 continues east as West Dodge Road and at Cass Street, turns briefly southeast where West Dodge Road ends and US 6 follows

Dodge Street Dodge Street is the main east–west street in Omaha, Nebraska. Numbered as U.S. Route 6 (US 6), the street starts in Downtown Omaha and connects to West Dodge Road just west of 78th Street. From there, it continues westward through the ...

eastward. Before 30th Street, US 6 splits into two one-way streets, with Dodge Street serving westbound traffic, and Douglas Street serving the eastbound. US 6 goes through downtown and then goes up onto Interstate 480, which is an elevated freeway around downtown Omaha, and shortly thereafter, crosses into Iowa via the Grenville Dodge Memorial Bridge.

History

When the

U.S. Highway System The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these hi ...

was created in 1926, much of the current US 6 in Nebraska was U.S. Highway 38. The route was slightly different in the Omaha area, as it turned east from 204th Street onto Q Street to go through what was the city of

Millard Millard may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places in the United States * Millard, Missouri, a village * Millard, Omaha, Nebraska, a former suburb and present-day neighborhood of Omaha * Millard Creek, Pennsylvania * Millard County, Utah * Millard, Virginia, an ...

. It went through Millard on what is now Millard Avenue (

Nebraska Highway 50 Nebraska Highway 50 (N-50) is a north–south highway in the state of Nebraska. The southern terminus is at the Nebraska-Kansas border near Du Bois. The northern terminus is in the Millard neighborhood of Omaha at an intersection with U.S. Hig ...

), then north on 132nd Street, then east on Center Street, and then north on 36th Street to end at Farnam Street. In 1932, US 38 was deleted and replaced by US 6. The cities of Hastings and Lincoln also had City U.S. Highway 6. These are former routes for US 6 in those cities. City US 6 in Hastings was deleted in 1970 and in Lincoln, it was deleted in 1983.

Future

The

Nebraska Department of Roads The Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) was the state government agency charged with building and maintaining the state and federal highways in the U.S. State of Nebraska from 1957 to 2017. The main headquarters of the agency was located in Lincol ...

is planning a total rebuild and partial realignment/rerouting of U.S. 6 from its current path along Sun Valley Boulevard in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

. The project is years away from being built.

Commemorative and other highway names

Grand Army of the Republic The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was a fraternal organization composed of veterans of the Union Army (United States Army), Union Navy (U.S. Navy), and the Marines who served in the American Civil War. It was founded in 1866 in Decatur, Il ...

Highway (statewide) * Carl T. Curtis Drive in Kearney County *West "O" Street, Sun Valley Boulevard, North 11th Street, Cornhusker Highway in Lincoln *204th Street, West Dodge Expressway, West Dodge Road,

, Douglas Street, Gerald R. Ford Expressway in Omaha

Major intersections

References

External links