The route in its northern segment is a two-lane, rural road, but it becomes a four-lane arterial after crossing the Garden State Parkway all the way to Toms River Township.

The highway makes frequent turns onto separate roads. ĬR 549 mostly travels through Ocean County. No other county bridges have their dates stamped into them. Also, the only ' at grade' cloverleaf in New Jersey exists on CR 549, and on the bridges there exists a stamp in the concrete that reads '1975'. There are a few mileposts left along the southern section of the highway that have a 'NJDT' label on the bottom right corner. The highway passes through Ocean and Monmouth counties and is maintained by its respective county, but there are several indications that the highway at one point may have been or was originally planned to be state maintained. The highway has the distinction of being the only 500-series route left with two separate spur routes.

The highway extends 17.82 miles (28.68 km) from Main Street ( Route 166) at County Route 527 in Toms River to County Route 547 at Monmouth CR 21 in Howell. County Route 549 ( CR 549) is a county highway in the U.S.

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