The route heads west from US 13 before turning north along with DE 71 in Mount Pleasant, crossing the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal on the Summit Bridge.

DE 71/DE 896 heads to the northwest through farm fields before turning to the west and passing a residential subdivision to the south.

DE 896 continues north through residential neighborhoods and fields and passes to the west of Lums Pond State Park.

The road reaches Glasgow, where it curves northeast to bypass the community to the east with DE 896 Bus.

DE 896 heads to the east of Hodgson Vo-Tech High School and curves northwest to intersect US 40.

The road passes through industrial and business areas with a few homes, heading to the west of Glasgow High School before intersecting Old Baltimore Pike.

The route heads through wooded areas to the east of Iron Hill Park before reaching a partial cloverleaf interchange with I-95 (Delaware Turnpike).

DE 896 becomes a four-lane divided highway that crosses the Christina River again and heads into residential areas.

The road changes names to South Main Street and becomes undivided as it passes businesses before reaching downtown Newark.

[3][4] Soon after, both directions of the route cross CSX's Philadelphia Subdivision railroad line at-grade as it leaves the downtown area and enters residential neighborhoods.

The route becomes undivided again as it leaves Newark, passing to the west of White Clay Creek State Park and heading through the community of Mechanicsville.

DE 896 continues to its northern terminus at the Maryland border, where the road briefly traverses the northeast corner of that state as MD 896 before heading north into Pennsylvania as PA 896.

[5] What is now DE 896 originally existed as a county road by 1920, with the portion between Boyds Corner and Mount Pleasant proposed as a state highway at that time.

[6] Four years later, the state highway between Boyds Corner and Mount Pleasant was completed while the rest of the route was paved.

[8] In 1936, the road became a state highway between Summit Bridge and Glasgow; at this time none of present-day DE 896 was assigned a route number.

[9][10] On December 21, 1936, the grade crossing with the Pennsylvania Railroad (now Amtrak's Northeast Corridor) along College Avenue in Newark was replaced with a bridge over the tracks.

[27] In 2012, the Newark city council voted in favor of renaming the portion of Elkton Road carrying DE 2 Bus./DE 896 between West Park Place and West Main Street to South Main Street in order to promote businesses along this stretch of road.

[32][33] A groundbreaking ceremony was held on May 1, 2023, with Governor John Carney, Senator Tom Carper, Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, and DelDOT Secretary Nicole Majeski in attendance.

[32][33] The project received a $57 million grant from the United States Department of Transportation which allowed construction to begin earlier than originally planned.

The route headed north from Boyds Corner concurrent with US 13 on the four-lane divided Dupont Parkway, passing through rural areas with some development.

In Biddles Corner, the alternate route split from US 13 and headed north along DE 1, a four-lane freeway that crosses the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal on the Senator William V. Roth Jr. Bridge.

At this point, the alternate route headed west concurrent with US 40 on the four-lane divided Pulaski Highway, passing through developed areas to the south of Glasgow Park.