The highway's brief 1.8-kilometer (1.1 mi) route in Hokkaido ends at the former terminal, which has since been converted into a retail area.

[7] National Route 279 is maintained by the Road Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), which conducts surveys on the Japan's national routes and expressways every five years to measure their average daily traffic.

It traveled between Noheji-shukuba and the Buddhist temple and folk religion pilgrimage destination of Mount Osore, believed to be a mystical gate to the underworld in both Ainu mythology and Japanese Buddhism,[9] near the former town of Tanabu (now part of Mutsu).

Pilgrimages along the Tanabu-kaidō to Mount Osore date back to 862, but it is uncertain if the establishment of a maintained road took place before the Nanbu built it.

[14] On 9 August 2021, most of a bridge over the Koaka River on the northern edge of Mutsu was washed away during Tropical Storm Lupit.

[15] No people were harmed as a result of the bridge collapse; however, it cut off direct highway access to Mutsu for the residents of Ōma and Kazamaura until a signalized one-lane bridge was built on 20 June 2022 to the south of the original to partially restore the connection.

From its northern terminus with its parent route, it heads southeast and crosses over the Jotachi River.