The road follows Second Street eastward, and quickly comes to an interchange with Interstate 580 and US 395, which is also known as the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Highway and the Three Flags Highway.

SR 648 passes over the Truckee River, where it enters Sparks and the road name changes to Glendale Avenue.

Passing through an urban area, the road intersects Rock Boulevard (SR 668) heading east.

The route terminates at the intersection of Glendale Avenue and McCarran Boulevard (SR 659), a major arterial encircling the Reno-Sparks area.

This western segment was removed by 2005 as the Reno Transportation Rail Access Corridor (ReTRAC) track reconstruction eliminated the Second Street railroad underpass.