The Belt Parkway begins at an interchange (exit 22) with the Gowanus Expressway in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn.

Paralleling Third Avenue, the parkway turns west and crosses over the Long Island Rail Road Bay Ridge Branch, a freight-only line.

The eastbound lanes of the Belt Parkway pass several small parking areas that serve as viewing spots for the bay.

[4] Just east of the field, the Belt Parkway comes within the shadows of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and passes exit 2, which serves as the southern terminus of Fourth Avenue.

Eastbound, the lanes from the bridge connecting to the Belt merge in, as the road enters Dyker Beach Park and Golf Course.

The parkway bends eastward and crosses over the Coney Island Complex, a large railroad yard for the New York City Subway.

Paralleling the namesake Neptune Avenue, the parkway enters Sheepshead Bay and connections to Coney Island.

[4] At exit 8, the Belt Parkway connects to Coney Island Avenue, approaching the namesake bay as it continues east.

Just north of the service area, the Belt passes exit 11N–S, a cloverleaf interchange which connects to Flatbush Avenue and the Rockaways.

Crossing over another bridge over Spring Creek, the parkway passes exit 14, which connects to Pennsylvania Avenue in Starrett City.

Crossing into an interchange with NY 27, the parkway travels under the IND Rockaway Line (A train) and passes exit 18B, which connects to Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park.

Now with North and South Conduit Avenues serving as westbound and eastbound frontage roads for the parkway, passing exit 20, a junction with the JFK Expressway and the airport.

Crossing under the Van Wyck, the Belt continues east through multiple underpasses and overpasses before reaching exit 21A, westbound side, which services 150th Street and Rockaway Boulevard.

[4] Exit 22 services Springfield Boulevard, where the Belt Parkway begins to parallel a Long Island Rail Road line through Laurelton.

[6][7] The Belt system was part of a "Metropolitan Loop" running through all five boroughs of New York City as well as New Jersey, proposed by the Regional Plan Association in 1929.

New highway designs were implemented, including dark main roads and lighter-colored entrance and exit ramps.

[6] In October 2009, NYCDOT launched the first phase of a capital project to reconstruct seven obsolete bridges along the Belt Parkway.

[22] The first phase included the reconstruction of an overpass ramp from Guider Avenue, as well as the replacement of the Paerdegat Basin and Rockaway Parkway bridges, which was completed in 2012.

[23] In 2021, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority proposed widening a 2-mile (3.2 km) section of the Belt Parkway near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.