The route starts at Dawson Creek as the Spirit River Highway and ends at the Perimeter of Winnipeg, Manitoba, after running through the northern regions of the western provinces.

Horse drawn ploughs filled low areas, settlers hauled gravel and cleared bush for the road ways surveyed along high elevations following lake and river shore lines.

The all-weather road arrived alongside of the NWWR association's impetus for a travel and tourism corridor along the northern area of the western provinces.

Traffic volume along the route is a major factor to determine highway classification, surface type, and construction upgrades.

BC Hwy 49, also known as the Spirit River Highway, travels for 15 km (9 mi) before reaching the Alberta border.

From Donnelly to Athabasca, Alberta, Highway 2 contributes 56.5 km (35.1 mi) to the NWWR scenic route across the western provinces.

[5] Sir Winston Churchill Provincial Park on Lac la Biche is to the north of the NWWR at this point.

[19] Rich Lake is in Lac La Biche County municipal district, and the traffic volume declines to around 800 vpd.

[22][24] Between Green Lake and Shellbrook, the NWWR bears south east skirting around the western edge of the Prince Albert National Park.

[22][26] At Shellbrook, the 42.5 km (26.4 mi) concurrency with SK Hwy 3 begins and the multiplex ends in Prince Albert.

[9][22] The NWWR is in the Boreal transition ecoregion which features agricultural fields on the parkland mixed with dense taiga and sparse population.

Travel along the NWWR enters Manitoba via the MB PR 283 west ending at The Pas, a town of about 5,500 where the AADT increases to 980 vpd.

[31] MB PR 283 provides 38.6 km (24.0 mi) of the NWWR where the economy has been supported by the fur trade, trapping, mining, fishing, logging and agricultural industries.

Bellsite, Novra, and Birch River are all small unorganised areas of Mountain (North) RM located west of Swan Lake.

The NWWR continues east along the MB PTH 5, using this connector route for a total of 40 km (25 mi).

As the flow of traffic increased due to the fur trade industry along the Long Trail, stopping places developed providing rest and food for travelers.

Edmonton or Saddle Lake trail departed to the south, which would be the initial stages of AB Hwy 55 out of Lac La Biche.

[41] Heart Lake trail traveled northeast from Lac La Biche, which would form a base for secondary AB Hwy 858.

[41] Before the arrival of rails the waterways such as the Lesser Slave Lake near Athabasca, Alberta and the Saskatchewan River near Prince Albert were traversed by long boat, canoe, and steamship.

[43] The rail did not reach the northern areas until the early twentieth century due to the geological hurdles of mountains, muskeg, swamp, boreal forest, and river systems to traverse.

[41] A huge flood in 1899 near The Pas left no ground to walk upon, yet the railway track construction work began in 1906, with more continuing in 1911.

[32] In 1928, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) surveyed their line across the Saskatchewan River near Prince Albert, and contractors started work on the bridge.

[44] As early as 1896 oil wells were drilled at Athabasca supplementing the rich soils and grain growing economy.

[nb 1][47][48][49] [50] The Pas, Manitoba saw its first car arrive in 1916, yet it had been active with fur trading posts and explorers in the area since 1741.

[52] Debden, Saskatchewan had a horse and caboose taxi for settlers as early as 1912 providing regular trips to Prince Albert and taking children to school.

[53] Bush planes arrived in the 1920s to the northern bus areas providing communication in an era where travel was limited when the snow fell, or the water froze.

[32] In 1968, High Prairie was looking forward to hard surface construction for AB Hwy 2 which would supplement the economic trading base with tourism.

[54] A new bridge across the Saskatchewan River at Prince Albert was erected in 1974, and caused re-routing of the highway by one and a half miles (2.4 km).

[2] George R. Stephenson (1916–2003), of McLennan was one of the first facilitators to organise the Northern Woods and Water Route across Western Canada in 1974.

[57] The entire route is paved except for a Class 4 gravel highway segment between Nipawin and the Manitoba border.