It is the main link to the northern part of Strathcona Provincial Park and the remote logging communities of Gold River and Tahsis, on the northwest coast of the Island.

Before the section of Highway 19 from Campbell River to Port Hardy was opened in 1979, Highway 28 acted as the main access to Port Hardy and various other communities on the northern tip of the Island (in the Regional District of Mount Waddington), aided by a system of local logging roads leading from the highway to the various north Island communities.

Originally a logging road that connected to Highway 19, a few kilometres west of Campbell River, the road split, one alignment going south into Strathcona Park, and the other going west to Gold River, which looped north of Upper Campbell Lake.

The access to Port Hardy, however, was left unchanged until 1976 when Highway 19 was extended north.

37 km later (23 mi), the highway enters the city limits of Campbell River, finally terminating 10 km (6.2 mi) later at a junction with Highways 19 and 19A, in the northern part of the city.