Barrier Highway branches off Horrocks Highway at Giles Corner, between Riverton and Tarlee and heads northeast, crossing the border into New South Wales and passing through Broken Hill.

It continues further east to Wilcannia where it crosses the Darling River, past Cobar to eventually end in Nyngan, where it joins Mitchell Highway.

The area traversed by the highway is remote and very sparsely settled.

8) on 8 August 1928, from the intersection with North-Western Highway (today Mitchell Highway) in Nyngan, via Cobar, Willcannia, and Broken Hill, to the border with South Australia;[2] with the passing of the Main Roads (Amendment) Act of 1929[6] to provide for additional declarations of State Highways and Trunk Roads, this was amended to State Highway 8 in April 1929.

[9] Barrier Highway was signed as National Route 32 across its entire length in 1955.