The road begins at the heavily congested intersection of
Route 417 (Bar-Ilan Street/Hativat HarEl Boulevard) and Shmuel HaNavi Street. The first is called Shmuel HaNavi Street, a continuation of the street south of the intersection. At its beginning, 436 is a major transfer point for intra- and inter-city buses. It is six lanes wide with two lanes in each direction on either side for private vehicles and two public transportation lanes along its median. The bus lanes along the center of the road are envisioned to become part of the "Blue Line" of the
Jerusalem Light Rail. Just before Givat Moshe Junction, at above sea level, the name of the road becomes Golda Meir Boulevard. It passes Jerusalem's largest high tech park,
Har Hotzvim, while descending into Emek HaArazim (Valley of The Cedars) at . At Golda Meir Interchange, entrances in both directions provide access to Highway 50 (southbound). The road widens to eight lanes crossing the Sorek Stream and the
Green Line at Yigael Yadin Interchange providing access to Highway 1 and Highway 50 (northbound). It then becomes six lanes and begins a steep ascent as the central artery through Ramot. Leaving Ramot and the Jerusalem Municipality, the road becomes four lanes wide, passing the entrance to
Nebi Samuel and reaching an altitude of . It then begins another descent to in the Plain of
Gibeon. Along this section, the road passes alongside the security barrier next to
al-Jib. Passing Mahane Giv'on, the road rises to as it passes through Givat Ze'ev. Further on, it descends to , intersecting with Routes 443 and 45. North of 443/45, the road provides entrances to
Mahane Ofer and the
Beitunia cargo transfer terminal, officially ending as numbered. ==Junctions (south to north)==