The highway extends 23.79 miles (38.29 km) from Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike (CR 504) in Wayne to Palisades Boulevard (US 9W) in Alpine.

In the extreme west of Bergen County, CR 502 is mostly a two-lane road with occasional expansions into a four-lane avenue.

The route turns north as it passes between the Point View Reservoir to the west and residential neighborhoods to the east, intersecting CR 681.

A short distance later, the route intersects CR 84 and makes a turn east onto Franklin Avenue.

The route passes over New Jersey Transit's Main Line/Bergen County Line and widens to four lanes as it comes into businesses areas and reaches an intersection with CR 507.

At this point, CR 502 turns southeast onto Broadway and runs to the east of the Pascack Valley Line, passing the Westwood Station.

The road curves east away from the railroad tracks, widening to four lanes as it comes to the CR 503 junction.

After this, CR 502 becomes a stroad as Old Hook Road and continues through commercial areas, briefly becoming a divided highway at the entrance to the Hackensack University Medical Center at Pascack Valley.

It becomes High Street as it crosses CSX's River Subdivision and comes to the CR 39 junction.

CR 502 Truck, while signed, is not an official route, and it has no publicly available straight line diagram.

Ahead and somewhat to the east, CR 507 emerges as North Maple Ave and turns to follow Franklin Turnpike to the west.