The Lake Ontario State Parkway passes through mostly open and rural areas, except near Greece and Rochester, where the land surrounding the highway is more developed.

In 2017, the western half of the parkway was finally gifted $9 million, to begin project to repave the sections of Route 19 in Hamlin to Payne Beach (approximately 8 miles).

[1] The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has jurisdiction over NY 948A and at least part of the parkway mainline; however, NYSDOT maintains both highways.

[7] It heads eastward as a four-lane freeway as part of the Seaway Trail, which enters the area from the west on NY 18 and turns north onto Lakeside Beach Road to access the parkway.

It begins to move southward from the lake at an interchange with NY 237, and for the next 2 miles (3.2 km) it follows a more inland path through another set of open fields.

The more southerly alignment takes the route south of the lakeside hamlet of Troutburg, located at the north end of NY 272, which runs along the Orleans–Monroe county line.

Roughly 2.5 miles (4.0 km) east of Hamlin Beach, the highway becomes a four-lane expressway ahead of a four-way intersection with NY 19.

Past NY 19, the parkway crosses over Sandy Creek and heads into a portion of Hamlin with less open fields and more forested areas.

[7] At NY 261, the parkway briefly turns southward, crossing over Salmon Creek and passing west of Braddock Bay before resuming a southeasterly alignment at the East Manitou Road interchange.

East of Latta Road, it passes into the city of Rochester and its Charlotte neighborhood, where it terminates just 0.25 miles (0.40 km) later at an intersection with Lake Avenue.

[7] The right-of-way of the parkway and the Seaway Trail both continue eastward as Pattonwood Drive, which leads to the Colonel Patrick O'Rorke Memorial Bridge a short distance to the east.

At the time, the northernmost continuous east–west highway in these areas was NY 18; however, it deviated significantly from the lakeshore east of Carlton and followed a more inland route to Rochester.

However, its ultimate approval was dependent on the passage of a constitutional amendment that would allow the legislature to use $60 million (equivalent to $1.24 billion in 2025) intended for eliminating grade crossings for the construction of highways instead.

[14] On August 17, 1944, Moses announced a 145-mile (233 km) expansion of the existing system of parkways in New York that was intended to accommodate an increase in vehicular traffic that came about following World War II.

[21][22] Long-term plans for the parkway called for it to extend westward along the entirety of the Lake Ontario shoreline to Niagara Falls, and from there as far southward as Buffalo.

[23] By 1960, the proposed routing was adjusted to meet the northern end of the Robert Moses State Parkway in Porter, near Fort Niagara.

On November 21, 2012, NYSDOT announced plans to close the parkway between Lakeside Beach State Park and NY 98 during the winter months, citing the low wintertime traffic volumes along the road.