Mostly two-lane, it is composed of limited-access expressways, with part of the highway as the Christchurch-Lyttelton Motorway, and connects the city to its port town of Lyttelton.

At Mairehau, the highway turns east onto Queen Elizabeth II (QEII) Drive and begins its concurrency with the Christchurch Ring Road.

Now with the name Anzac Drive, the highway runs through the suburbs of Aranui and Bexley until reaching the Breezes Road/Bridge Street Roundabout.

In Christchurch CBD, the route turned left onto Bealey Avenue and then onto the parallel one-way roads Madras and Barbadoes Street.

[2] In November 2017, the Christchurch Northern Motorway's Western Bypass was opened, taking State Highway 1 to the west of Belfast, and State Highway 74's route was extended north along SH1's previous route up Main North Road from the Johns Road intersection to the previously existing motorway.