SR 2 begins at the Illinois–Indiana State Line where Illinois Route 17 ends. SR 2 heads northeast toward U.S. Route 41 and is concurrent with US 41 for. It then heads east toward Lowell; beyond Lowell there is a short concurrency with State Road 55, followed by an interchange with Interstate 65 at exit number 240. About to the east, SR 2 joins U.S. Route 231 and they are concurrent for. After SR 2 leaves US 231 it heads north-northeast toward Valparaiso.
SR 2 enters Valpariso from the southwest and joins U.S. Route 30. At the State Road 49 exit, SR 2 joins SR 49 north. Soon after SR 2 leaves SR 49 and heads northeast toward LaPorte. Passing through Westville, there is a short concurrency with U.S. Route 421.
SR 2 enters LaPorte from the west along with State Road 39. In downtown LaPorte SR 2 has an intersection with U.S. Route 35 ; here, SR 39 is concurrent with US 35. From this point, SR 2 is a four-lane divided highway. SR 2 heads northeast from LaPorte to Rolling Prairie where it meets US 20. Here, US 20 and SR 2 switch alignments at a roundabout interchange; US 20 follows the north and west legs of the interchange, while SR 2 follows the south and east legs. On the west side of South Bend, SR 2 ends at an interchange with US 20 and U.S. Route 31.
History
SR 2 has been largely replaced by the Indiana Toll Road and by US 20. SR 2 appears to be part of an old alignment from Kankakee, Illinois, to South Bend and runs more diagonally than other east–west state highways in Indiana. In Valparaiso, SR 2 has been rerouted around the downtown and central business districts of the city. Instead of traveling through the city along Washington Street, SR 2 shares portions of the routes of US 30 and the Valparaiso Bypass. Several times in its history, SR 2 has run along the path of the Lincoln Highway.
Until the completion of the St. Joseph Valley Parkway around the South Bend – Elkhart area, SR 2 continued to downtown South Bend, mostly along Western Avenue. SR 2 originally followed the Lincoln Highway to Fort Wayne before U.S. Route 33 supplanted it east of downtown South Bend. Part of SR 2's former routing is now State Road 933.
