The north-eastern terminus of the Cunningham Highway is situated a short distance west of where the Warrego Highway reaches its eastern terminus with the Ipswich Motorway, at , a suburb of Ipswich. From this point, the Cunningham heads south-west as the Cunningham Motorway, bypassing to the south the Ipswich central business district, the original path of the highway, now named Warwick Road. The motorway transitions to the Cunningham Highway, and a further modern deviation takes the highway south of and RAAF Base Amberley through the Scenic Rim region including the towns and settlements of , the Fassifern Valley and .