The highway crosses Main Street (SR 398) and continues along Cornell Avenue to its end at a five-point intersection with 14th Street, Airport Road (SR 856) and Upper Valley Road near the Lovelock city limits.

[2] As the route heads northeast out of Lovelock, the surroundings become more rural in nature with open farmland on both sides of the highway.

[2] Eventually, SR 396 turns east to intersect I-80 again at the Coal Canyon interchange, where the route terminates.

The business route diverges from SR 396 at 14th Street, following Airport Road back to I-80.

[3] With the adoption of the U.S. Highway System in 1926,[citation needed] US 40 was eventually added concurrently with SR 1.