It connects the city of Nikkō to Utsunomiya, the prefecture's capital, and has a total length of 63.9 kilometers (39.7 mi).

The second highway follows the Nikkō Utsunomiya Road from Nikko Interchange to its eastern terminus at the Tōhoku Expressway.

[6][2] The part of the Nikkō Utsunomiya Road designated as National Route 119 has a total length of 24.5 kilometers (15.2 mi).

The road has four lanes on the section designated as a part of National Route 119 and a speed limit of 80 km/h.

[8] Much of what is presently National Route 119 was preceded by the northernmost section of the Nikkō Kaidō, a road established by the Tokugawa shogunate during the Edo period.

[10] In 1988, an ordinance was put in place along the Nikkō Kaidō that forbade any new installation of large advertisements along tree-lined sections of the road.

For the Nikkō Utsunomiya Road section of National Route 119, see the junction list of that article.