In its first mile from the junction with NY 9D it climbs 200 feet (61 m) to a scenic overlook that looks out over Iona Island, Dunderberg Mountain, the city of Peekskill and the Charles Point power plant.

There are interpretive displays on the history of the area during the Revolutionary War, where the Hudson River Chain was deployed and the Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery was fought.

At its eastern end, before intersecting with US 9 at the Annsville Circle, the road falls to the level of the Hudson River, which it parallels.

There, near the entrance to Camp Smith, looking south across a bay and the Metro-North railroad, can be seen the Indian Point nuclear power plant.

It was intended to be higher on the mountainside than the similar Storm King Highway, which had been built upriver a decade earlier.