SR 539 begins as a continuation of Meridian Street north of downtown Bellingham at an interchange with I-5 near the Bellis Fair Mall. The highway travels along the east side of the mall and through a retail and commercial district, passing near the Whatcom Community College campus and the Cordata business park. After leaving Bellingham city limits near the residential areas of the Cordata neighborhood, SR 539 becomes the Guide Meridian Road, so named because it follows the "guide meridian" plotted for surveying that runs east of the Willamette Meridian.