The highway also provides access to the King Fahd Causeway which connects Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.

The route traverses the eastern coastal plain of Saudi Arabia, and is thus mostly straight for most of its length, running concurrently with Highway 85 north of Dammam.

It was initially built by a joint venture of Entreprise Jean Lefebvre, a French company, and several Saudi partners, who appealed to hundreds of expatriate men to do the job.

Most of these expatriates had the only right to live a single life in camps in the desert during their stays in Saudi Arabia.

The highway serves as the main land route for the transport of goods between the eastern Arab countries.