The route starts at the Moscow Ring Road (as Kashira Highway) and runs south, passing west of Vidnoye, east of Domodedovo, west of Kashira and Stupino, where the Caspian Highway branches off to the east.

After crossing the Don River near Rostov, the road continues further south to Krasnodar and finishes at Novorossiysk.

The Don Road, extensively upgraded and widened in the 2000s–2010s into an expressway, is an artery connecting Moscow with Southern Russia.

In the summer months, the road suffers from heavy traffic congestion caused by summer vacationers travelling to the Black Sea resorts like Sochi and by lorries transporting fruit from the southern provinces to the heavily populated areas of Central and Northern Russia.

[1][2] Control over the highway was contested between Wagner Group and the Russian army, with unconfirmed reports of Russian army helicopters firing on Wagner military convoys.