Scenic route

A scenic route, tourist road, tourist route, tourist drive, holiday route, theme route, or scenic byway is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. The designation is usually determined by a governmental body, such as a Department of Transportation or a Ministry of Transport.

Tourist highway

A tourist highway or holiday route is a road which is marketed as particularly suited for tourists. Tourist highways may be formed when existing roads are promoted with traffic signs and advertising material. Some tourist highways such as the Blue Ridge Parkway are built especially for tourism purposes. Others may be roadways enjoyed by local citizens in areas of unique or exceptional natural beauty. Still others, such as the Lincoln Highway in Illinois are former main roads, only designated as "scenic" after most traffic bypasses them. In the USA this type of roadway is commonly termed a scenic highway. In Europe and other countries around the world they are often marked with brown tourist signs with the individual route symbol and/or name.

U.S. Route 6 in Massachusetts

U.S. Route 6 in Massachusetts (US 6) is a 117.952-mile (189.83 km) long portion of the cross-country U.S. Route 6 highway connecting Providence, Rhode Island to Fall River, New Bedford, and Cape Cod. In the Fall River and New Bedford areas, US 6 is a secondary highway paralleling Interstate 195. On Cape Cod, US 6 is the primary highway interconnecting the towns of the area. The expressway section in this area is also known as the Mid-Cape Highway. The route is also alternatively signed as the "Grand Army of the Republic Highway."

Route description

Seekonk to the Sagamore Bridge

US 6 is a four-lane 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 two one-way city streets, and Fall River, where it runs along a two-lane avenue.

US 6 enters Massachusetts into Seekonk, just south of Interstate 195. The first mile and a quarter passes through the busy Seekonk retail area. The route passes through Rehoboth and the western half of Swansea, with access to Interstate 195 at Massachusetts Route 136, which heads southward into Bristol County, Rhode Island. The road then crosses over I-195 at the latter's exit 3, just east of the terminus of Massachusetts Route 118. The road heads through the southern end of Somerset before crossing the Veterans Memorial Bridge over the Taunton River into the city of Fall River. On the Somerset end of the bridge, Massachusetts Route 103 ends and Massachusetts Route 138 joins US 6 to cross the bridge. Prior to late 2011, Routes 6 and 138 followed a previous alignment over the Brightman Street Bridge, which has since closed.