It began east of Lake View at an intersection with U.S. Route 71 (US 71) and Iowa 175 and ended at US 20 northeast of Sac City.

[1] Just before the intersection with old US 20, it crossed Cedar Creek, a tributary of the Raccoon River.

The highway's northern end was in Sac City just over one mile (1.6 km) west of where it is today.

[2][5] In the early 1950s, the northern end of Iowa 196 was moved east of Sac City, and the routing did not change after that.

Iowa 196 was extended along what was County Road N14 (CR N14) approximately 2+1⁄3 miles (3.8 km) north to an interchange along the new expressway.