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[RoadsAroundME main page] Maine State Route 6
[ME 6, 15 and 16 near Sangerville.]
<< Maine State Route 5S All Points in Maine Maine State Route 7 >>


Termini and Mileage (2006)

Termini
Main alignment: End of US 201, Sandy Bay Twp. (T5 R3 NBKP) to Int of MAINE-NEW BRUNS., RT, Vanceboro
Mileage
Main alignment: 207.47 miles (total over all segments)
 

Regional and National Route Information

History as Pole Highway (1919-1925)
The portions of ME 6 co-signed with ME 15 between Dover-Foxcroft and Greenville Jct were originally part of the Green - White Brunswick-Greenville Hwy.
 

Notes and History

ME 6 is a trans-state route which crosses from one Canadian province to another, entering Maine from Quebec as QC 173 to continue along US 201 and then branching east with ME 15 at Jackman. ME 6 then continues through the center of the state, most notably Dover-Foxcroft and Lincoln, to cross into New Brunswick at Vanceboro as NB 4. Its western segments are most notorious for being essentially one big useless multiplex, mostly with ME 15, ME 16 and US 201.

ME 6 does not appear to have existed until 1937-8, and when first signed was only a minor route running between Old Orchard Beach and US 1 on new routing for a total of barely three miles; its future routing to Canada was then covered by US 201, ME 195SH and ME 15, and the remainder of its routing by ME 16 (refer to these routes for individual histories of the original alignments). Between 1946-7, the old ME 6 routing was dropped and given to new state route ME 98, and a new routing defined in 1949 between Lincoln at US 2 and Vanceboro at the Canadian border using alignment taken from ME 16 and a small contribution from ME 11. Inexplicably, ME 6 was then further extended west from Lincoln in 1965 but entirely using already existing highways and no new routings: it proceeds from Lincoln along US 2 to West Enfield, then with ME 155 to Lagrange, then with ME 16 to Dover-Foxcroft, then with ME 15 and ME 16 to Abbot, then with ME 15 to Jackman Station, and finally with US 201 to the border. This remains its routing today.

Much of ME 6 is part of the Trans-Maine Trail, and its entire routing is also the Trans-Maine Trail Alternate, a legislative highway declared in 1979 (Title 23, Chap. 23 §1951). The Trans-Maine and Trans-Maine Alternate Trails include portions of ME 6, ME 15, ME 16 and ME 27; see Maine's Named Highways.

ME 6 is also part of the former Moosehead Trail on the portions cosigned with ME 15 to Greenville.

 
Additional Photographs

 
[Thumbnail image. Select for 640x480.] Co-signage of ME 6, ME 15 and ME 16 near Sangerville. The "Moosehead Trail" signage is antiquated and refers to an old tourism effort to spearhead local economic development, easily confused with the snowmobile Moosehead Trail which is nearby and very popular. See Maine's Named Highways.
 
Additional Resources

Maine Highways 1 to 10 (JP Kirby)

<< Maine State Route 5S All Points in Maine Maine State Route 7 >>
Routing information is property of the Maine Department of Transportation, based on most current data available at time of this writing. No warranty or guarantee is expressed or implied regarding this routing's suitability for travel or resemblance to fact. RoadsAroundME is not affiliated with, sponsored by or funded by the taxpayers of the state of Maine, or the Maine Department of Transportation.

All images, photographs and multimedia, unless otherwise stated, are copyright © 2005-2010 Cameron Kaiser. All rights reserved. All writeups are copyright © 2005-2010 Cameron Kaiser. All rights reserved. Unauthorized copying or duplication without express consent of the copyright holder is strictly prohibited. Please contact the sitemaster to request permission if you wish to use items from this page.

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