It takes a general northerly route, through Migori, Kisii, and Sondu, to end at Ahero, on the Kisumu–Kericho Highway, a total distance of 178 kilometres (111 mi).
In some occasions, overtaking vehicles (particularly buses and trailers) have to get one set of wheels to overlap the road as there is not enough space.
The existence of Sony Sugar Millers at Awendo also means that the public have to share the road with the much slower cane-hauling tractors.
Major towns along the road include Kisii, Suneka, Rongo, Ranen, Awendo, Migori, Isibania, and Sirare.
Komire has a small man-made forest on either side of the road that must have provided night cover for the thieves.
On 30 March 2016, the African Development Bank approved a loan of US$228 million to the Government of Kenya, to apply to the rehabilitation of this road, from 2016 until 2019.