SR 116 is a two-lane roadway that traverses through a combination of agricultural and desert terrain in the Lahontan Valley.

The route begins at an intersection with US 50, approximately 4.5 miles (7.2 km) east of downtown Fallon.

From there, the road travels in a northeasterly direction, stair-stepping easterly and northerly through farm plots.

For a short distance, the route forms is part of the southern boundary of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Indian Reservation.

[4] As of 1957, SR 42 was approximately 14.5 miles (23.3 km) long—its western terminus was at the intersection of Stillwater Avenue and Harrigan Road in Fallon, with the route extending eastward along the Stillwater Avenue alignment before shifting northward near Crook Road to the present-day US 50 alignment.