It is a major east–west route running south of the Sierra Nevada and is known as the Carretera Sevilla a Granada and Autovía de Andalucía.

It starts in Seville heading parallel to the Rio Guadaira to Antequera, where it is crossed by the Autovía A-45 from Málaga to Córdoba.

At Guadix the road branches in two; the south passing La Calahorra Castle and along the Rio Nacimiento to Tabernas and Almería.

In 1991 before the road had opened, a mudslide caused a portion to collapse in Venta del Molinillo, Granada.

In 2010, two separate portions of the road, in Jaén and Granada provinces, collapsed following weeks of heavy rainfall.