U.S. Route 6 in Iowa

U.S. Highway 6
Grand Army of the Republic Highway
US 6 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by Iowa DOT
Length	322.454 mi[1] (518.939 km)
Existed	June 8, 1931[2]–present
Major junctions
West end	I-480 / US 6 at Omaha, NE
Major intersections	I-29 in Council Bluffs I-80 / US 71 near Atlantic I-80 / US 169 at De Soto I-35 / I-80 in Clive I-235 in Des Moines I-80 / US 65 in Altoona I-80 / Iowa 14 in Newton US 151 at the Amana Colonies I-80 / Iowa 38 near Wilton I-280 / US 61 at Davenport
East end	I-74 / US 6 at Moline, IL
Location
Country	United States
State	Iowa
Counties	Pottawattamie Cass Adair Madison Dallas Polk Jasper Poweshiek Iowa Johnson Muscatine Cedar Scott
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Special Divided Iowa Primary Highway System Interstate US State Secondary Scenic
← Iowa 5 → Iowa 7
← Iowa 31 US 32 → Iowa 32

U.S. Highway 6 (US 6) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway which runs 322 miles (518 km) across the U.S. state of Iowa. The route is signed in places as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway. Like all state highways in Iowa, it is maintained by the Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT). The route begins at the Missouri River crossing at Council Bluffs. From there, it travels east through Oakland and Atlantic. North of Atlantic, the highway overlaps Interstate 80 (I-80) until De Soto. Between De Soto and Adel, the highway overlaps US 169 before splitting off to the east toward Des Moines. Through the Des Moines area, the highway runs about one mile (1.6 km) north or south of the I-35/I-80 corridor.

At Altoona, the route again overlaps I-80 until Newton, where it splits away from I-80. The highway passes near or through the cities of Kellogg, Grinnell, Victor, Marengo, the Amana Colonies, and Tiffin before entering the Iowa City metropolitan area. Through Coralville and Iowa City, US 6 has no direct access to I-80, I-380, or US 218; other routes like Iowa Highway 1 (Iowa 1) and Iowa 965 provide direct access. From Iowa City, the highway heads to the east-southeast through West Liberty and Atalissa. Near Wilton, the route heads north to I-80 where it again overlaps to Davenport. At Davenport, US 6 then follows I-280 and US 61 before entering the city. On the eastern side of Davenport, it joins I-74 and enters Bettendorf before leaving Iowa for Illinois.

Dating back to 1910, the route US 6 follows was originally the Great White Way and River-to-River Road. Both were auto trails which connected Council Bluffs and Davenport. When the U.S. Numbered Highway System was created in 1926, the highway was designated U.S. Highway 32 (US 32). US 32 was renumbered in 1931 as US 6 was extended to the west coast. As the Interstate Highway System expanded in the 1950–1970s, US 6's importance as a cross-state route was diminished by I-80. As a result, the least-traveled sections of the route were moved onto I-80 and control of the vacated sections of highway was given to local jurisdictions.