The road begins in the south at its junction with US 160 roughly two miles north of Kim.

From there the road proceeds northward for 55 miles (89 km) through remote, sparsely populated land, including a section of Comanche National Grassland, before reaching La Junta, the first of only two towns along the route's length.

After crossing over US 50, the road continues northward, passing the La Junta Municipal Airport, to the small town of Cheraw where the road officially ends by becoming a city street called Grand Avenue.

The route was established in the 1920s, when it began at Karval and headed eastward to Genoa.

In 1954, most of the route was deleted, leaving only a segment from La Junta to Cheraw.