It carries US 12 from Des Plaines to 95th St near Hickory Hills, US 45 between Des Plaines on southwards past Frankfort, Illinois and carries US 20 between Lake Street in Stone Park, Illinois and 95th St. near Hickory Hills.

The road is named after a former town called Mannheim that was founded by German farmers in what is now Franklin Park.

Mannheim Road is known for its distinctive utility poles erected on the east side beginning at North Avenue.

These poles are rectangular instead of cylindrical and have diagonal crossarms with street lights at the ends of some of them.

There is a Metra station on the Milwaukee West Line at Mannheim Road; in addition, Amtrak's Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg and Metra's BNSF Railway Line has a stop on La Grange Road in La Grange.