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(last updated 4/12/2023)
If you are familiar with the mileage signs posted at the terminus points of US 6 and US 20, you might point to those and say, "The answer is plain to see: US 20 is 160 miles longer than US 6."
If both of those signs were accurate, then obviously US 20 would be longer. But the fact is, only one of those signs is accurate, whereas the other significantly overstates the true mileage. I first realized that based on measurements I took in 2016, and later refined in 2020. But you may well be wondering, "Why is the author so certain that '3365' is the figure that is wrong, as opposed to whatever number he came up with?" The answer is because in 2021 the source of the misinformation was identified, when I and others obtained a copy of AASHTO's 1989 route log (that is the most recent version they have published). We learned that the figure of "3365 miles" listed therein was never intended to represent the cross-country mileage of US 20. Let me explain.
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(last updated 8/21/2020)
"One great red line"
For about a quarter-century, US Route 6 was the longest highway in the country (and it may still be, depending how one measures). In Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road, the main character described it as "one great red line across America". During those years it ran between Provincetown MA and Long Beach CA, and I believe there has never been a longer highway in the United States. Exactly how long was it? Well, believe it or not, the answer to that question is debatable (see this page for more details about why it is difficult to calculate).
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