Some visitors begin their experience by approaching the entire area from the south via State Route 10 to Surry, and then across the James River and arriving by water on the Jamestown Ferry.

The unmarked pavement is made of rounded "river gravel" set in a concrete-mix, providing an unusual earth tone color.

Despite a federal policy instituted late in the 20th century of requiring user fees at many National Parks and Monuments, the Colonial Parkway has remained toll-free.

In 1930, a survey of the area was undertaken by National Park Service (NPS) engineering and landscape architect professionals for a 500-foot (150 m) right-of-way for the parkway.

However, instead, it was decided to align the road along the York River through U.S. Navy land to avoid grade crossings, extensive tangents, modern intrusions and other "visual junk".

These features, derived from 19th-century Romantic landscape theories, created a safer and more pleasant drive compared to the increasingly congested urban strips.

In addition to protecting the views, culvert headwalls and parkway underpasses were clad in "Virginia-style" brick laid in English and Flemish bonds to promote a "colonial-era" effect.

Design features such as molded coping rails, string courses and buttresses followed the historical prototypes found at Williamsburg.

[2] The land for ten miles (16 km) of the route between Yorktown and Williamsburg was given to the NPS free of charge, and construction began first on this portion.

The tunnel under the historic district of Colonial Williamsburg was completed by 1942, but opening was delayed by World War II and some structural and flooding problems.

During the early 1950s in anticipation of the 1957 350th anniversary of Jamestown's founding, the park finalized plans to complete the parkway, still following the same design standards.

It has also been necessary to protect the Parkway from commercial intrusions, especially as the Virginia Peninsula's resident population has more than tripled since 1930, and tourism has greatly increased.