It runs from Kentucky Route 54 and J.R. Miller Boulevard in downtown Owensboro, Kentucky, to Indiana State Road 161 on the north end of the Glover Cary Bridge, 0.245 miles (0.394 km) north of the Indiana state line.

Its southern terminus is at the corner of JR Miller Boulevard and Parrish Avenue (KY 54) in downtown Owensboro.

It then crosses the original alignment of U.S. Route 60 (US 60) and the Ohio River via the Owensboro Bridge and terminates at the end of that bridge, which marks the Kentucky-Indiana state line.

From 1952 until the 2001–02 fiscal year, US 231 followed the current KY 2262 and SR 161 alignments in the area.

US 231 was rerouted onto US 60 east of Owensboro and onto a new alignment leading to the William H. Natcher Bridge in northeastern Daviess County into southern Spencer County.