The highway was named in honor of José Paciano Laurel, who served as the president of the Second Philippine Republic.

It then enters Tanauan, Malvar, Lipa, where it diverts motorists around the poblacion as Ayala Highway, San Jose, and Batangas City, where it ends at Lawas Junction, its intersection with Palico–Balayan–Batangas Road and P. Burgos Street (Manila-Batangas Pier Road) in the poblacion.

The Southern Tagalog Arterial Road mostly parallels the highway and crosses each other at Lipa and Batangas City.

[5] It was designated as Highway 19 or Route 19, a route that linked Santo Tomas to the then-municipality of Batangas and was the logical continuation of Route 1 (Manila South Road), an old road from Manila that includes the present-day Maharlika Highway, prior to the completion of its section towards Alaminos, Laguna circa 1930s.

[6][7][8][9] New alignments bypassing the downtowns of San Jose,[10][11] Lipa (now known as Ayala Highway), and Santo Tomas (officially known as Manila–Batangas Diversion Road),[4] respectively, were later built and made part of the present-day Jose P. Laurel Highway.