Oklahoma State Highway 6

State Highway 6
OK 6 mainline in red
Route information
Maintained by ODOT
Length	121.8 mi[1] (196.0 km)
Existed	August 21, 1954; 69 years ago (1954-08-21)–present
Major junctions
South end	SH 6 at the Texas state line
Major intersections	US 62 / US 283 at Altus I-40 / SH-34 at Elk City
North end	SH-152 near Sweetwater
Location
Country	United States
State	Oklahoma
Highway system
Oklahoma State Highway System Interstate US State Turnpikes
← SH-5 → SH-7

State Highway 6, abbreviated SH-6 or OK-6, is a state highway in Oklahoma. It runs in a 121.8 miles (196.0 km) crescent through the southwestern part of the state, running from the Texas state line north of Quanah, Texas, to SH-152 in the unincorporated town of Sweetwater. There are no letter-suffixed spur branching from SH-6.

SH-6 was added to the state highway system in 1954. The highway was later extended from its original extent; westward from Elk City in 1957 and southward to Texas in 1975.

Route description

After crossing the Red River, State Highway 6 leaves Texas, becomes SH-6 and continues headed northeast, passing through the small Jackson County towns of Eldorado and Olustee. Highway 6 meets US-62 five miles (8 km) west of Altus.^[2] SH-6 makes a right turn at this point to overlap US-62 into Altus.

In Altus, SH-6 takes a turn to the north to overlap US-283. North of Blair, US-283 heads due north while SH-6 turns toward the northwest. SH-6 crosses US-283 once more before the state highway continues to the north toward Granite, where it meets SH-9.

North of Granite, SH-6 runs along the Beckham–Washita county line until sharing a 4-mile (6.4 km) concurrency with SH-55, moving into Beckham County.^[2] After splitting away from SH-55, it meets SH-152 for the first time (it will meet SH-152 at its northern end.)

SH-6 continues north to have an interchange with Interstate 40 in Elk City. It overlaps Business Loop I-40 for four miles (6.4 km) on the north side of the city.^[2] At this point the north–south highway curves to the west. It crosses US-283 (again), and then ends at SH-152 in Sweetwater.

History

The original State Highway 6 extended from the Texas state line near Colbert to the Kansas state line north of Vinita.^[3] When the United States Numbered Highways system was established in 1926, the vast majority of the highway was overlapped by US-75 and US-73.^[4] (Later, this corridor would form the majority of US-69 in Oklahoma). As a result, the original SH-6 designation was decommissioned soon after the establishment of the U.S. highway system.^{[citation needed]}

The SH-6 designation remained unused until August 21, 1954, when it was assigned to a highway beginning at US-283 east of Mangum, extending north through Granite and Retrop, and ending at US-66 in Elk City.^[5][6] The highway was extended west along SH-73 to its current northern terminus on January 21, 1957.^[5]

SH-6 was extended to the south on July 7, 1975, bringing it to Altus by way of a concurrency with US-283, where it joined US-62 in another concurrency, headed west. West of Altus, the route split off and headed southwest to the Texas state line. In addition to the U.S. routes, SH-6 was concurrent with SH-44 between that route's current southern terminus and Eldorado, where it ended; thereafter, SH-6 followed SH-34 to the Red River. To remove the redundant designations, both SH-34 and SH-44 were truncated to their current southern terminus on January 5, 1987.^[5][7][8]

SH-6 was realigned twice in 2004 to allow SH-6 a straighter route in situations where it was concurrent with another highway. The first such section removed a portion of the US-283 concurrency between Blair and Granite; the second realignment took place on the SH-55 concurrency north of Retrop. Both of these changes were applied to the highway on February 2, 2004.^[5] No further changes to the highway's route have taken place since then.

Junction list

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Jackson	Red River	0.00	0.00	SH 6 south (Texas Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway)	Continuation into Texas
	Eldorado	6.2	10.0	SH-5	Southern terminus of SH-5
	​	12.5	20.1	SH-34	Southern terminus of SH-34
	​	27.4	44.1	US 62 west	Southern end of US-62 concurrency
	Altus	32.3	52.0	US 62 east (Broadway Street east) / US 283 south (Main Street south)	Northern end of US-62 concurrency; southern end of US-283 concurrency
	Blair	42.4	68.2	SH-19	Western terminus of SH-19
Greer	​	44.5	71.6	To SH-44 north / Great Plains Trail of Oklahoma – Hobart
	​	48.5	78.1	US 283 north (Great Plains Trail of Oklahoma) to SH-44	Northern end of US-283 concurrency
	Granite	63.4	102.0	SH-9
Kiowa	No major junctions
Washita–Beckham county line	Retrop	78.3	126.0	SH-55 east	Southern end of SH-55 concurrency
Beckham	​	83.3	134.1	SH-55 west	Northern end of SH-55 concurrency
	​	88.3	142.1	SH-152
	Elk City	95.1	153.0	I-40 / SH-34 – Amarillo, Oklahoma City	I-40 exit 38
		96.7	155.6	I-40 BL east (3rd Street east)	Eastern end of I-40 Bus. concurrency; former US 66 east
		100.5	161.7	I-40 BL west (State Highway 66)	Western end of I-40 Bus. concurrency; former US 66 west
	​	110.9	178.5	US 283
Beckham–Roger Mills county line	​	121.8	196.0	SH-152 – Wheeler, Sayre	Northern terminus; road continues west as SH-152 (1100 Road)
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

References

External links

• SH-6 at OKHighways

This page was last edited on 2 January 2024, at 20:18