The highway travels north of and roughly parallel to the Barwon River, after which it is named.

The river forms part of the border between Queensland and New South Wales.

[1] Like many Australian roads, the Barwon Highway follows a declared stock route.

[3] When seen from the air (or in the Satellite view of Google maps) the substantial width of the western end (from Nindigully to Talwood) can be clearly seen due to the difference in colour between roadside brigalow scrub and adjacent cropland.

A project to widen sections of pavement on the highway, at a cost of $6.75 million, was expected to complete in June 2022.