PTH 13 begins in the town of Carman at an intersection between PTH 3 and PR 245 (Main Street S / 4 Avenue (SW/SE)), with PTH 13 heading north as a four-lane divided boulevard, Main Street S, into downtown Carman. The highway heads straight through the centre of downtown, crossing the Boyne River along a two-lane bridge before temporarily widening back out to a four-lane heading through a neighbourhood as Main Street N. The road narrows to two lanes for the final time at a railroad crossing and passes through a business district before leaving Carman and entering the Rural Municipality of Dufferin.
The original PTH 13 went from the PTH 14 Junction in Emerson southeast to the Minnesota border. This was eliminated in 1942. PTH 13 first appeared on the 1947-48 Manitoba Highway Map.[6] Originally, it served as a short connector route spanning 20 kilometres (12 mi) between its current southern terminus with PTH 3 in Carman and PTH 2 near Elm Creek.
PTH 13 was extended further north and east in 1957 to meet PTH 1 near St. Francois Xavier.[7] The following year, the highway was shortened to its current northern terminus north of Oakville when PTH 1 was reconfigured to its current route.[8]
On September 12, 2007, the Manitoba government entered to cost share safety improvements at a railway crossing at Highway 13 near Oakville to provide an automated advance warning system.[9]