The highway proceeds west through northern Branson as the Shepherd of the Hills Expressway, which despite its name is a four-lane boulevard with no controlled-access interchanges.

It eventually turns north as a two-lane highway and leaves Branson (Shepherd of the Hills Expressway continues westward as a separate highway from an intersection near Kirby Van Burch's theater).

North of Branson, it intersects Route 76 (the Ozark Mountain Highroad).

Seven miles north of Branson, it begins a five-mile (8 km) concurrency with U.S. Route 160.

At Reeds Spring Junction, the road leaves US 160 and begins a short concurrency (about one mile) with Route 13.