It is a freeway-standard partial beltway around the southwest side of the Richmond, Virginia metropolitan area in portions of Goochland, Powhatan, and Chesterfield counties.

SR 288 may be thought of as the southwestern portion of an "outer beltway" of Richmond, although there is no such roadway formally designated.

This was due to a peculiarity in the varying powers and abilities of local governments to control growth and preserve rights-of-way resultant from the Byrd Road Act of 1932.

Instead, a more westerly alignment was selected through Powhatan and Goochland Counties, causing a break in what would have been a continuous loop between SR 288 and I-295 at their northern juncture.

In 2004, construction of this "western alignment" as it became known was completed, including a new crossing of the James River known as the World War II Veterans Memorial Bridge.