"The former Lancaster mayor is working to build up recognition of U.S. Route 6, a highway that once held the title of the nation's longest at more than 3,650 miles."

"Before California officials cut it short more than 40 years ago, the highway stretched from Long Beach to Provincetown, Mass. - including Sierra Highway from Santa Clarita through the Antelope Valley, leaving behind a string of motels on what is now a road mainly for people driving between Palmdale and Lancaster."

"The route has been known by many names over the years, including the Roosevelt Highway, after President Theodore Roosevelt, and the Midland Trail Roadway. Its official title is the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, named after an organization of Union Civil War veterans."

"...the highway began in the 1920s as a short route between Provincetown and Brewster, N.Y. Over the years, it was extended westward, eventually covering 14 states and ending in Long Beach."

"The route held the title of the nation's longest from 1937 until 1965, when the state of California requested the historic highway end at the town of Bishop. At 3,227 miles, it is now the nation's second longest route, according to the association."

"Route 6 hasn't had the publicity that Route 66 has enjoyed. Route 66 benefited from a popular 1940s song, "(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" by Bobby Troup, and a TV show in the early 1960s."

"According to a history on the Federal Highway Administration's Web site, author George R. Stewart considered using Route 6 for a text-and-picture book about a transcontinental highway. Stewart opted for Highway 40 instead, writing, 'By comparison, Route 6 runs uncertainly from nowhere to nowhere, scarcely to be followed from one end to the other, except by some devoted eccentric.'"