Known as Quaker Lane, the state highway runs 1.65 miles (2.66 km) from SR 420 north to Interstate 395 at Shirlington Circle within the independent city of Alexandria.

SR 402 heads north as a four-lane undivided highway that passes to the east of the Virginia Theological Seminary and Episcopal High School.

The state highway's northern terminus is at Shirlington Circle, a roundabout interchange with I-395 (Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway) on the boundary between the city of Alexandria and Arlington County.

[1][2] The section of Quaker Lane north of SR 7 (King Street) was originally known as Seminary Road.

SR 402 was assigned to its present location, previously unnumbered, in the early 1980s.