It goes through all the coastal cities in Montenegro (i.e. Herceg Novi, Kotor, Budva, Bar, Ulcinj).

It is the starting point of all the highways that start at the coastline and go north like M1.1, M-2, M-8 and M12 and intersects with M-11 in Boka Bay, where M-11 can be used to shorten the distance by with using ferryboat from Kamenari to Lepetani.

The M-1 highway is part of International E-road network with E-65 / E-80 from border with Croatia to Sutomore and with E-851 going from Sutomore to border with Albania and is Montenegrin part of Adriatic Highway.

[1] Section from Petrovac na Moru to border with Albania, previously knows as M-2.4 highway was officially opened for traffic in 1973.

[2][3] In January 2016, the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs published bylaw on categorisation of state roads.