[3] Several exits provide access to nearby villages, but the only town of size, for which Highway 40D serves as a bypass, is El Salto, the seat of Pueblo Nuevo Municipality.

Past El Salto, the terrain slowly flattens, and the Durango-Mazatlán stretch ends with one more toll plaza west of Durango, for a total of four on the route.

[1] At that time, Caminos y Puentes Federales (CAPUFE), an agency of the federal government, took over maintenance and operations of the so-called "superhighway" (supercarretera).

[10] Drivers said they preferred to use the older road at night because of the many potholes that had developed; while CAPUFE pledged hundreds of millions of pesos in repair work and storm water management, that never materialized.

[12] ACSA (Autopistas de Cuota, S.A.), a subsidiary of Coconal, holds the concessions for the three separate (but contiguous) roads connecting Durango to the Comarca Lagunera and bypassing its cities of Gómez Palacio and Torreón.

[14] The Libramiento Norte de la Laguna serves as a total northern bypass of the Comarca Lagunera.

It was inaugurated by President Peña Nieto on April 17, 2014[15] and runs 40.7 kilometres (25.3 mi) from the junction with Federal Highway 49 to east of Matamoros, Coahuila.

It is maintained by CAPUFE and divided into two segments by an overlap with Mexican Federal Highway 40 in the La Cuchilla area.

[22] The Libramiento de Reynosa Sur II is the easternmost stretch of Highway 40D, receiving the designation in 2017.