SR-190 begins at a single point urban interchange with I-215 (though the rightmost lane of the eastbound off-ramp actually leads to 3000 East instead of SR-190) and the road curves to the south as it climbs from the Knudsen's Corner lowlands near Big Cottonwood Creek to run first along the bottom of the south-facing mountainside leading up to Mount Olympus to the north and then along the west-facing mountainside just north of Big Cottonwood Canyon's mouth.

North of Wasatch Boulevard, the route passes several office buildings, the Old Mill Golf Course, and a Utah Transit Authority park-and-ride lot.

Beyond the intersection, park-and-ride lots used only for ski buses (or otherwise for the benefit of canyon visitors) and a water treatment plant are visible to the north and residential development within Cottonwood Heights city occupies the slope to the south.

[4] In 1941,SR-152 was extended east in the forest to Brighton,[5] and in 1945 the connection from Highland Drive to the canyon was moved south to Fort Union Boulevard.

[6] In order to provide access to the new Wasatch Mountain State Park, SR-152 was extended east from Brighton in 1963, following an existing county road over Guardsman Pass to end at SR-224.