The route is mostly rural, passing around the urban areas of Stouffville and south of Sutton. However, the east–west section that lies to the south of Lake Simcoe is slightly developed and features a reduced speed limit of . The remainder of the route is signed at . Like other provincial routes in Ontario, Highway 48 is maintained by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario. In 2010, traffic surveys conducted by the ministry showed that on average, 13,300 vehicles used the highway daily along the section between York Regional Road 25 (Major Mackenzie Drive) and York Regional Road 14 (Stouffville Road) while 5,950 vehicles did so each day along the section between Durham Regional Road 23 (Lake Ridge Road) and Brock Side Road 17 (former Highway 12), the highest and lowest counts along the highway, respectively.