CR 83 begins at an interchange with NY 27 (Sunrise Highway) in the hamlet of North Patchogue in the town of Brookhaven.

The route becomes a divided highway, crossing under a line of the Long Island Rail Road just west of the hamlet of Medford.

Continuing north along Patchogue–Mount Sinai Road, CR 83 turns northeast past Hawkins Path, entering an interchange with NY 112.

The expansion of the Sunrise Highway east of Oakdale cut off the southern terminus between Austin and Willmarth avenues in the 1950s, but a frontage road reconnected the old and new sections.

When the interchange with NY 27 was reconstructed in the late 1980s, another frontage road connecting Old North Ocean Avenue replaced the one that was built in the 1950s.

The road rejoined the modern routing at the Long Island Lighting Company High Tension Line right-of-way midway between I-495 and CR 16.

This segment was completely abandoned as North Ocean Avenue was realigned to accommodate exit 63 along I-495 (the Long Island Expressway).

This trolley line ran into Holbrook and veered to the northwest at Canaan Lake along what is known as Traction Boulevard, while the current Old North Ocean Avenue moved northeast.

The section in the vicinity of the former Bald Hill Ski Bowl was built in similar fashion to a limited-access highway to make driving through hilly region of Farmingville much easier.

Loftier plans once existed to extend the limited-access status north of Mooney Pond Road, but legend has it they were literally crossed out in pencil.

[8] From the 1940s into the 1970s, this bridge had an empty right of way for an unbuilt southbound lane, implying that the proposal to widen the road dated back to the post-war era.

Another proposed spur would have led to the Cedar Beach Town Park, which lies on a peninsula separating Long Island Sound and Mount Sinai Harbor.