The roads now making up the highway were originally part of several privately maintained turnpikes, which fostered settlements along the corridor.

[7][8] One last locally maintained section exists in the Albany suburb of Bethlehem, where the route is county-maintained between Feura Bush Road and the Delmar Bypass.

Beyond the Rushmore Memorial Library at the north end of the hamlet the road bends slightly east upon reaching the southeastern foot of Orange County's highest peak, Schunemunk Mountain.

Shortly after Highland Mills, the Port Jervis Line, operated by Metro-North Railroad, crosses over on a high trestle.

After crossing over Woodbury Creek and under the Thruway, NY 32 runs along the eastern side of the narrow valley between Schunemunk and the Hudson Highlands.

The intersection with Angola Road 0.25 miles (0.40 km) to the south was once the beginning of the former NY 307; it is now the west end of CR 107.

The next 2 miles (3.2 km) include a middle turn lane as NY 32 becomes New Windsor's main commercial strip.

[9] Newburgh has a commercial strip north of the city, featuring the Mid-Valley Mall and another large shopping plaza built around a supermarket anchor.

This development ends after 1 mile (1.6 km) when 32 passes the Town of Newburgh's Cronomer Hill Park on the south, near a short drive to the summit observation tower.

It curves northwards shortly thereafter, retaining a slightly westward trend through mostly open fields near the Shawangunk Ridge.

[9] A short distance beyond, the highway crosses into Gardiner, taking a wide bend around Locust Lawn, the Federal-style home of early 19th-century politician Josiah Hasbrouck.

[11] North of Modena, the surrounding area becomes slightly more wooded near where NY 32 crosses into the Town of New Paltz.

Two blocks north of campus, at New Paltz Middle School, it turns west at a traffic signal to join NY 299 as the village's Main Street.

Once past the village, the Ulster Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) building comes up on the west and the town hall along the east.

Now concurrent, 32 and 213 bend away from the Thruway and pass through the hamlet of Tillson and then descend to cross Rondout Creek at the former village of Rosendale.

[9] From Rosendale, NY 32 climbs up out of the Rondout valley and veers east into the hamlet of Maple Hill, where it crosses over the Thruway once again.

As it crosses the railroad tracks and leaves the village, the road widens and becomes a commercial highway just before reaching a Thruway exit.

[9] At the junction with Malden Turnpike (CR 34), NY 32 turns westward, toward the Catskill Escarpment, and starts climbing through some rock cuts.

The climbing stops another mile after the county line, where NY 32 reaches its highest elevation, 1,060 feet (320 m),[13] on the plateaus south of the Helderberg Escarpment.

This segment continues, largely undeveloped, as it intersects NY 335 and crosses under the Thruway for the last time before reaching its final concurrency with US 9W.

0.5 miles (0.8 km) east of the Thruway, NY 32 again breaks from 9W and follows residential Corning Hill Road downhill to River Road, where it turns to the north again and crosses the Normans Kill into Albany, becoming South Pearl Street, and then paralleling I-787 for a short distance past the Port of Albany–Rensselaer before crossing underneath it.

[28] The original plans released by the state in 1959 called for a four-lane divided highway between NY 85 in New Scotland and US 9W in Bethlehem.

The change in plans was met with stiff opposition from area residents at a February 8 public hearing,[29] and the Bethlehem Town Board unanimously voted to oppose the altered route at a meeting one week later.

[33][34] Part of the right-of-way for the Delmar Bypass near Slingerlands was eventually used for a realignment of NY 140 named Cherry Avenue Extension.

The road's southern terminus at Woodbury Commons is the most frequent topic of discussion, especially since Black Friday in 2001, when heavy traffic from holiday shoppers along adjacent sections of not only 32 but routes 6 and 17 and the Thruway came to a complete standstill.

[44] Despite several efforts and the presence of state police on later Black Fridays,[45] a similar traffic jam occurred on Labor Day weekend 2006, when a break in bad weather led to an increase in shoppers so marked that US 6 and the Thruway were backed up as far as the Palisades Interstate Parkway and Newburgh, respectively.

The Woodbury police chief cited the blockage created by drivers making the left turn from NY 32 to the Thruway as the cause.

[47] In 2007, New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) officials announced their long-term plan to prevent further traffic jams.

Work was slated to begin in 2013, but just before it could start Governor Andrew Cuomo redirected the money to repair projects elsewhere in the state.

The main element would include converting the interchange into a diverging diamond, where traffic would switch sides of the road on the overpass so both left and right turns onto NY 17 would not have to be made against opposing traffic; in order to meet 16.5-foot (5.0 m) federal clearance requirements for Interstate Highway standards, NY 17, gradually being converted into I-86, will be lowered by 4 feet (1.2 m) beneath the new overpass.