The highway originally continued up into the Central Mountain Range following the Dajia River valley through the townships of Guguan (谷關) and Qingshan (青山).

Continuing east from Dayuling the highway route now begins its descent into the Taroko National Park.

It passes through Guanyuan (關原), Ci’en (慈恩), Luoshao (洛韶) and Tianxiang [zh] before entering Taroko Gorge.

However, torrential rains from Typhoon Mindulle caused further damage to the highway, forcing the affected section between Guguan and Lishan to be closed to non-residents indefinitely.

3 medium-sized busses are scheduled to run the route (back and forth) each day but no ordinary private vehicle traffic is allowed.