The state highway runs 3.20 miles (5.15 km) from Washington Avenue and Bay Street in Cape Charles east to U.S. Route 13 (US 13) and US 13 Business near Bayview.

SR 184 connects US 13 with Cape Charles in southern Northampton County.

SR 184 was designated after US 13 was extended south to the new terminal of the Little Creek Ferry at Kiptopeke and later the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

At the southern end of the beach at Cape Charles Harbor, SR 184 turns east onto Mason Avenue and passes through the downtown area, which lies to the north of the former ferry terminal where the Eastern Shore mainline of the inactive Bay Coast Railroad formerly interchanged with the rail car float that carried trains across the Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk.

At the eastern edge of downtown, SR 184 turns north onto Fig Street then east again onto Randolph Avenue.