East end of US Highway 6 in Provincetown MA

View a map showing this route.

Photo credits: Cameron Kaiser; Karin and Martin Karner; Eric Paulsen; Michael Summa; Ernie Tripp; "Jlinko"; me
Additional research: Emi Briet; Chris Bianchi

One thing that hasn't changed about US 6 - from the time it was planned in 1925 - is that its eastern end has always gone all the way out to the tip of Cape Cod. There most of its original route is now MA hwy. 6A. Through Provincetown, however, 6A is directed onto Bradford Street today - whereas when US 6 went through town, it was on Commercial Street (which was two-way back then). The US 6 designation ended at the rotary on the west end of Commercial. The photo below is from the website for Provincetown Inn:

The view here is basically east. Emi writes:

"Heading north from the rotary [towards the lower left] is Bradford Street Extension. It's officially a state road (as is the rotary), but has no route number.

1/5th of a mile up that road is the junction of Bradford, Bradford Ext, and Province Lands Road. At that intersection, MA 6A is signed "South" on Bradford back into town and "North" on Province Lands Rd, where it eventually meets up with [and ends at the modern terminus of] US 6.

Heading east from the rotary [towards the upper left] is Commercial Street, the original US 6 (though from that point, you can't actually drive east on Commercial anymore, because today it's one-way westbound)."

There used to be a cool sign on that rotary at the east end of US 6, stating (among other things) the mileage to Long Beach CA. I once caught a brief glimpse of it on the credits for a TV show; if you could obtain a photo of this sign, please let me know! I suppose the sign would've been moved (and maybe changed as well) in the 1950s, when US 6 traffic was rerouted onto the bypass (see next section). That rotary is now the site of "Pilgrims' First Landing Park", but there is no longer any indication that the longest highway in US history once ended there.

Below is an image from an old postcard that shows the sign at the west beginning of US 6 after it was moved to the second rotary (now gone):

Summa

I believe that's heading north in the 2nd rotary, away from downtown and the old rotary. The fork to the left led to Provincelands Road (the sign says "Race Point Coast Guard Station" and "Airport"); to the right was the east beginning of US 6. I've been told that sign was taken down after US 6 was truncated back to Bishop. Here's a shot from roughly the same spot, but later:

Summa, 1982

In both images, the green sign on the left points to the right and says:

Truro 11
Boston 124

Here's a sign mounted on the railing in front of a store by the harborfront:

Paulsen, Sep. 2003

That's a homemade sign - my guess is someone manufactured it as a novelty. You'll see more work from this person below...

Since the 1950s, US 6 traffic north of Truro is routed onto a newer bypass. Where this highway reaches the end of the Cape, it loops back around and connects with the original highway through P-town (see the National Park Service map below):

The map shows how - because of the way the Cape is formed - one is actually heading west when they come to the eastern end of US 6! Understanding this will help the descriptions below to make more sense. For example, when I say "eastbound US 6", that's actually a westward direction of travel in the P-town area. Shown below is one of the last eastbound US 6 markers, along with an interesting addition:

Karners, Aug. 2010

That's near the junction with Mayflower Road. I like the historic sign, but I'm perplexed why it's placed there. This is current US 6, but it's not historic US 6. Historic US 6 was routed along MA 6A, which is a few hundred yards to the left, running parallel. The very last eastbound marker is another mile or so ahead, near the junction with Shank Painter Road:

Karners, Aug. 2010

Not far ahead, US 6 crosses into federal land (on the map, that's where the highway crosses into the green area), and this next photo shows the view from that stretch of road:

me, 1997

In case you can't make it out, the sign on the left says "State Highway Ends", and the sign on the right says "Province Lands; Cape Cod National Seashore". I took that photo because, not seeing any other signage, I assumed that sign must indicate the endpoint of US 6.*

*Actually, I observed several "State Highway Ends" signs at multiple places along US 6; turns out they simply mean that section of the highway is not maintained by the state (at the location shown above, maintenance of US 6 becomes the responsibility of the National Park Service).

However, I later learned that US 6 actually ends at the highway's junction with Province Lands Road, a little ways ahead. That junction is also visible on the map above, and below is a photo looking that direction:

Karners, Aug. 2010

The US 6 designation ends right where the biker is: literally in the middle of a curve in the road. The road veering off to the right is northbound Province Lands Rd. The road that curves to the left is also Province Lands, but it's designated state highway 6A. So eastbound US 6 doesn't have a nice, clear terminus like some highways do. There used to be a traffic signal at this junction - the photo below was taken from roughly the same perspective, but 13 years earlier:

Tripp, 1998

That intersection is relatively new: before 1982 it was a large, complicated rotary (click if you'd like to view a 1.5 MB animated map showing how the configuration has changed). The photo below was taken from the opposite direction at the same intersection. The camera is on state highway 6A, at its east end:

Tripp, 1998

Beyond the traffic light is the east beginning of US 6 (which actually starts out by heading further east... I know it's confusing). The road coming in from the left is Province Lands Rd. That's how you get to Herring Cove Beach, and when you exit the parking lot there, this sign is posted:

Karners, Aug. 2010

Those look like some pretty old signs, and they may have been recycled from other assemblies. When you turn right on Province Lands, there is currently no further signage indicating which route goes which direction...

Karners, Aug. 2010

...but US 6 begins to the left. The photo below shows a sign that used to be posted at approx. the same spot: southbound Province Lands Rd, approaching the intersection with the bypass:

Tripp, 1998

That provided the best visible proof that this junction does indeed mark the true eastern terminus of US 6. The car in the background was stopped at the traffic signal visible in the two photos above. If it turned right, it would be on highway 6A; if it turned left, it would be heading east on US 6... but the sign was correct where it said "West" towards Boston, because the highway mimics the curve of the Cape, and eventually it does head westward on its long path to California. If you turn left there, the first westbound confirming marker looks like this:

Karners, Aug. 2010

Continuing east on westbound US 6, the second assembly used to include a homemade sign:

Kaiser, July 2006

Recognize that style from one of the photos above? Probably an ambitious local road historian. Later that was replaced with a more official-looking sign...

Karners, Aug. 2010

...but, again, why here? The appropriate place for the historic sign would be on Commercial or Bradford, not here. Later in August or September 2010, (either replacing that assembly or else posted just beyond it), MassDOT erected the sign shown below:

Wikipedia user "Jlinko", Sep. 2010

That's pretty cool. That's the latest of several attempts to sign the significance of this highway, but I'm guessing MassDOT's handiwork often gets stolen. A few miles ahead, in North Truro, current US 6 rejoins its original alignment. [Click to go back to my main US 6 page.]