Route 291 serves as a main arterial road and commercial strip in Liberty and Independence.

It travels to the north, intersecting Route P (203rd Street), and past Country Creek Golf Club.

After the two highways separate, Route 291 travels through the main part of the city and has an interchange with I-470.

It crosses over a Kansas City Southern Railway line on the southeastern corner of Van Hook Park.

Immediately after crossing over a Union Pacific Railroad line is an interchange with Truman Road.

It then crosses over a Union Pacific Railroad line just to the west of the River Bluff Nature Preserve.

Route 291 curves to the west and has an interchange with I-435, where it ends and turns into NE Cookingham Drive which is a road that leads to the Kansas City International Airport The route was renumbered in the mid-1960s when I-29 was opened.

It was aligned on what is now the western frontage road in southern Liberty, Southview Drive, until the mid-1970s, when a four-lane Route 291 was built.