The southern terminus of the route is at the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where it connects to Interstate 95 (I-95), US 1-9, and US 46.

Its northern terminus is at a traffic circle in Fort Montgomery, New York, where the PIP meets US 9W and US 202 at the Bear Mountain Bridge.

[1][2] A 0.42-mile (0.68 km) spur connecting the parkway to US 9W in Fort Lee, New Jersey, is designated Route 445S.

The parkway is owned and maintained by the Palisades Interstate Park Commission but occasional maintenance is performed by the New Jersey and New York state departments of transportation.

[9] The Palisades Interstate Parkway begins at the George Washington Bridge (GWB) in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

Passengers traveling northbound on the New Jersey Turnpike (I-95) must be in local lanes to directly get on the PIP or be forced to get off the last exit in Fort Lee before the GWB.

Once the PIP leaves the GWB, it proceeds north along the New Jersey Palisades, past the Englewood Cliffs Service Area.

There are also three different scenic lookout points over the Palisades near the northern tip of the island of Manhattan at the Harlem River.

At exit 13, the PIP intersects US 202 as the route crosses south of Harriman State Park in Mount Ivy.

Finally, the Palisades Interstate Parkway meets its end at US 9W and US 202 at a traffic circle near the Hudson River and the Bear Mountain Bridge.

[16] The plan was to build a parkway to connect the New Jersey Palisades with the state parks along the Hudson River in Rockland and Orange counties.

Welch would soon garner the support of John D. Rockefeller, who donated 700 acres (2.8 km2) of land along the New Jersey Palisades overlooking the Hudson River in 1933.

However, the New Jersey Highway Commission did not support construction, so the idea of a parkway was put on hold.

Construction on the New Jersey portion began about one year later, paralleling the nearby Henry Hudson Drive.