Willets Road begins in the Village of North Hills and travels east to Old Westbury Road in the Village of Old Westbury, serving as a major west–east link in central North Hempstead.

Willets Road begins at a cul-de-sac in North Hills, near Buckley Country Day School.

[2][3] It continues east, soon passing and providing access to Herricks High School.

It then continues heading east and shortly thereafter intersects Searingtown Road (CR 101), adjacent to the Henry Viscardi School and Nassau County Stormwater Retention Basin N-00468.

Willets Road passes and provides access to the historic Searing Roslyn United Methodist Church and its cemetery, and providing access to the Herricks Union Free School District's Searingtown Elementary School.

[3][6] It then once again continues east, soon intersecting Albertson Parkway and thence crosses the Long Island Rail Road's Oyster Bay Branch at-grade, adjacent to the Albertson LIRR station and entering Roslyn Heights.

Willets Road continues east as the main west–east thoroughfare through the Levitt & Sons-developed Roslyn Country Club housing development, soon passing the East Williston Union Free School District's Willets Road Elementary School, and then reaching Exit 30 of the Northern State Parkway.

[3][9][10] The road then reaches the Roslyn Heights–Old Westbury border just prior to the overpass carrying I.U.

[2][3] It then proceeds east, crossing above the Northern State Parkway and then intersecting Glen Cove Road (CR 1).

[3][11][12][16][17] The road was split after the Northern State Parkway was constructed, severing what is now Hollow Lane from the rest of I.U.

[21] One reason was that many of the farmers in the area were concerned about the impact it would have on their farmland and did not want the new road so close to their homes.

[21] On November 30, 1943, a 53-year-old woman driving a Ford sedan was killed when a train collided with her vehicle as she was traversing the grade crossing on I.U.

[1][19] Additionally, the Clark Botanic Garden is located off the road in Roslyn Heights.