It meets the eastern terminus of the A58 at a roundabout, and follows the former A1 Wetherby bypass across the River Wharfe, built in 1959.

There is a roundabout for an industrial estate and then one for the newly diverted B1224, and junction 46 of the A1(M), where it rejoins the former Great North Road.

At the point where it runs parallel to runway of the former RAF Dishforth at Norton-le-Clay, it joins the route of the Roman road Dere Street.

At Dishforth, the road leaves Dere Street and forms part of junction 49 of the A1(M).

The A1 junction was planned in the 1970s to be the northern terminus of the A6183, a motorway-standard road that bypassed Leeds to the west from Kirkhamgate, north-west of Wakefield.

The scheme was eventually condensed into the A1-M1 motorway link road and the improvement of the A1 to Dishforth.

The A168 becomes the main route from the A1 to Teesside, joining the short section of the A168(M), and a trunk road.

The road becomes part of the Thirsk bypass, and at Sowerby crosses the East Coast Main Line, then Cod Beck.

At Pudding Pie Hill it meets the A170 at a grade-separated junction, where the road continues as the A19 to Teesside.

At Thornbrough, at the northern end of the Thirsk by-pass, the A168 leaves to the left at a grade-separated junction.