A series of 'garter-snake fences' were built in this area to protect both the snakes and vehicle traffic.

[citation needed] PTH 17 begins in the Rural Municipality of St. Andrews at an intersection with PTH 9 a few kilometers south of Winnipeg Beach, with the road heading due west as a gravel road.

PTH 17 then travels straight through the town of Teulon, where it has an intersection with PTH 7, before curving northwest and winding its way through woodlands for the next several kilometers, where it passes by Norris Lake Provincial Park, before entering the Rural Municipality of Armstrong.

PR 229 splits off shortly thereafter and PTH 17 winds its way north through a mix of farmland and wooded areas for the next several kilometers, passing through Narcisse, where it crosses a former railroad line as well as having intersections with Road 114N (which leads to the site of Bender Hamlet) and PR 231.

The highway passes by the Narcisse Snake Dens and the community of Chatfield, where it has an intersection with PR 419, before crossing into the Rural Municipality of Fisher.

The route number was eliminated in 1979 when the Manitoba portion of the Yellowhead Highway was changed from PTH 4 to PTH 16 so that the route maintained one number throughout the four western provinces.