At Tsepina railway station it leaves the gorge and ascends through the valley of a right tributary of the Chepinska reka.

At the railway station of Kostandovo the road turns west and enters the Chepino Valley, where it passes through the town of Velingrad,[2] the largest settlement along the route.

After the town the road leaves the valley and ascends westwards to the village of Yundola, where it enters the Avramovo Saddle (1,295 m) between the Rhodope Mountains and Rila.

[2] Close to the saddle's highest point, it enters Blagoevgrad Province and descends to the Avramovo train station, the highest in the Balkans, and follows the valley of the Dreshtenets, a left tributary of the Cherna Mesta, the left constituent river of the Mesta.

After 4 km it enters the Razlog Valley north of the village of Banya and traverses the valley in western direction, before reaching its terminus at the junction with the second class II-19 road at Km 36.6 of the latter, about one kilometer south of the town of Razlog.