** The posterior part, the true transverse process, springs from the vertebral arch behind the foramen and is directed forward and laterally; it ends in a flattened vertical tubercle, the posterior tubercle.

The anterior tubercle of the sixth cervical vertebra is known as the carotid tubercle or Chassaignac tubercle (for Édouard Chassaignac). This separates the carotid artery from the vertebral artery