A segment of what is now SR 11 was originally added to the state highway system in 1895 as a Blanchard – Whatcom County line road.

SR 11, also named Chuckanut Drive, begins north of Burlington at a partial cloverleaf interchange with I-5.

The highway travels northwest through farmland at the north edge of the Skagit Valley, generally following the BNSF Bellingham Subdivision, a railroad that also carries Amtrak's Cascades passenger trains.

[8] A sculpture of the Loch Ness Monster in Samish Bay is visible from the road and was installed by a local artist in the 2010s.

[11] Leaving the state park, the highway follows the Interurban Trail along Chuckanut Bay and through residential areas on the sides of the mountains.

[6][11] Chuckanut Drive then enters the city of Bellingham and travels around an estuary near Teddy Bear Cove, a former nude beach, as it leaves the Interurban Trail.

[13] The highway turns east onto Old Fairhaven Parkway and travels through a residential neighborhood as it heads uphill along Padden Creek.

SR 11 then terminates at an interchange with I-5 in southern Bellingham, with the road continuing as Connelly Avenue towards the Lake Padden neighborhood.

[16] Chuckanut Drive is generally two lanes wide with a narrow shoulder and has seasonal peaks in use based on recreation and farming.