The two concurrent highways travel east on the Kent-Des Moines Road past Highline Community College and Mount Rainier High School to an intersection with SR 99 in western Kent, where SR 509 turns south towards Tacoma.

SR 516 then intersects I-5 at a partial cloverleaf interchange and continues east onto a four-lane divided highway over the Green River and its pedestrian and bicycle trail into downtown Kent.

[5] SR 516 shifts south onto Willis Street and crosses the Interurban Trail and a BNSF rail line before turning north onto Central Avenue and east onto Smith Street near Kent Station.

[4][6] The highway travels southeast along Mill Creek onto the Kent-Kangley Road and serves as the southern terminus of SR 515 at Kent-Meridian High School before leaving Kent for Covington.

[7] The highway continues east past Pipe Lake and into Maple Valley before crossing the Cedar to Green River Trail and ending at an intersection with SR 169.