Transalpina traverses four counties – Gorj, Vâlcea, Sibiu, Alba – crossing the Parâng Mountains from south to north.

The highest altitude is reached on a segment of about 20 km (12 mi), in Vâlcea County, passing a short distance from the peaks of Dengheru (2,084 m), Păpușa (2,136 m), Urdele (2,228 m), Iezer (2,157 m), and Muntinu (2,062 m).

[13][14][15] In his work, Istoria Olteniei supt austriaci (1718–1739), Constantin C. Giurescu shows that as early as 1731 the Austrian authorities proposed the construction of a Transcarpathian road on the path of the old transhumance route linking Transylvania with Oltenia.

Given the lessons of the First World War, King Carol II wanted that the Romanian Land Forces would have a strategic road for mountain artillery, pulled by horses, which could be traversed by troops moving between Wallachia and Transylvania.

[18][19] There were no economic or traffic justification for spending such a large amount (2.6 millions per km) as the road is of limited use (maximum of 6-month's a year) because of high altitude weather and there was already a national road (DN7A) crossing the area that could be used 12-month's a year (DN7A is at a lower altitude on a SE-NW axis) that needed only 10% of the amount spent on Transalpina to be improved.