A method implemented by a network element (NE) in a network, comprising receiving, by the NE, an advertisement comprising preferred path route (PPR) information representing a PPR from a source to a destination in the network, the PPR information comprising a PPR identifier (PPR-ID) and a plurality of PPR description elements (PPR-PDEs) each representing an element on the PPR, receiving, by the NE, a data packet comprising the PPR-ID, and forwarding, by the NE, the data packet having the PPR-ID to a next element on the PPR based on the plurality of PPR-PDEs.