It begins in Prague, Czech Republic, passes through Vienna, Austria and Maribor, Slovenia, ending near Zagreb, Croatia.

The E59 largely consists of motorways but some sections are developed either as expressways or two-lane roads with at-grade intersections.

There it proceeds further south along the A2 motorway taking the route past Wiener Neustadt to the city of Graz.

The E59 terminates at Jankomir interchange of the Zagreb bypass, where southbound E59 traffic defaults to the eastbound A3 motorway.

1264, the Declaration on the Construction of Main International Traffic Arteries,[11] signed in Geneva on September 16, 1950, which defined the first E-road network.

This declaration was amended several times before November 15, 1975, when it was replaced by the European Agreement on Main International Traffic Arteries or "AGR", which set up a route numbering system and improved standards for roads in the list.

[12] Reorganization of the E-roads network of 1975 and 1983 redefined the E71 designation previously associated with Hanover–Bremen–Bremerhaven road and assigned it to Košice–Budapest–Zagreb route.