Spanning 21.96 miles (35.34 km), it connects SR-196 and the Dugway Proving Ground with SR-36 between Rush Valley and the Deseret Chemical Depot.

[5] Further west in Utah (near the current-day Dugway Proving Ground), Frank Seiberling, president of the Lincoln Highway Association and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company committed $100,000 to build a 40-mile (64 km) short cut across the desert from County Well (west of Orr's Ranch) to Gold Hill, which would be known as the Goodyear Cut-off.

[4] After completing only 7 miles (11 km), the state of Utah reevaluated its long-term highway plan and terminated the project, and instead, began constructing the Wendover Cut-off farther north.

Utah officials favored this route, as it would keep southern California-bound motorists in the state longer by forcing them to take the Arrowhead Trail (now Interstate 15) south from Salt Lake City.

[4][7] The Wendover Cut-off was opened on July 13, 1925,[8] and the system of United States Numbered Highways assigned it as part of U.S. Route 40 the following year.