With the exception of the section overlapping Interstate 84 (I-84), most of Route 52 is a two-lane road through lightly developed rural areas. The road west of the Hudson River serves a number of small communities in the southern Catskills and Hudson Valley, such as the villages of Jeffersonville, Ellenville and Walden. East of the Hudson, it closely parallels I-84 after leaving it at the village of Fishkill. It once passed through the cities of Newburgh and Beacon, following a ferry between them, but since the bridge's construction Route 52 runs concurrently with I-84 just to their north.