The designation of CR 535 picks up East State Street at the Trenton city line and heads northeast into the Bromley neighborhood of Hamilton. It parallels
Amtrak's
Northeast Corridor line between both municipalities' respective train stations before abruptly turning southeast at , an intersection with Klockner Road. Now the East State Street Extension and maintained by Hamilton, CR 535 meets
I-295 with limited access at exit 64. Traffic traveling southbound on CR 535 (traveling geographically north for this brief stretch) has a ramp leading to I-295 north toward
US 1, while southbound traffic on the freeway can exit onto CR 535 north. From here, CR 535 continues toward Nottingham Way (
CR 652), and turns left onto it, about east of where
Route 33 merges onto Nottingham Way. County maintenance resumes at this point and CR 535 stays on this road for just before reaching a five-way intersection of
CR 533 (Quakerbridge Road north of the intersection, White Horse–Mercerville Road south of it) and Nottingham Way, which is
CR 618 as it travels southeast away from the intersection toward
Hamilton Square. Having regained its northeast direction, CR 535 moves through this intersection and becomes Edinburg Road. At a traffic signal with Paxson Avenue, the road widens to two lanes in each direction. It leaves Hamilton for
West Windsor, and bumps up against
Mercer County Community College on the left. Just beyond the college is
Mercer County Park, which is accessible through South Post Road (
CR 602) or through the park's official west entrance after CR 535's reduction to one lane each way. Just beyond the park entrance, the route intersects with Robbinsville-Edinburg Road (
CR 526). CR 535 forms a short
concurrency with that route, which comes from
Robbinsville to the south. Less than later, CR 526 turns due north again on Edinburg Road and heads for
Princeton Junction while
CR 641 travels southeast on Windsor Road. CR 535 continues to the northeast as Old Trenton Road, crossing into
East Windsor. In East Windsor, it intersects with Princeton-Hightstown Road (
CR 571), with the entrance to
Route 133 visible to the right. CR 535 crosses the
Millstone River and into
Middlesex County. CR 535 is now traversing
Cranbury, traveling for a just under before reaching the township's Main Street. It turns left toward the downtown area, while
CR 539 comes from the right on South Main Street and ends while
CR 685 continues east on Old Trenton Road to its terminus at
US 130. Once through Cranbury, CR 535 continues north on South Main Street, becomes North Main Street, turns right onto Plainsboro Road, turns left onto Maplewood Avenue, another right onto Half Acre Road, and shortly thereafter, merges into another short concurrency, this time with US 130. After less than , it breaks off to the right, taking a north-by-northeast path toward the
New Jersey Turnpike and the Lower
Raritan River Valley while the southbound direction follows the short concurrency with US 130 and turns slightly southwest on Maplewood Avenue. CR 535 enters
South Brunswick. Though signed at various points as Cranbury-South River Road, South River Road and Cranbury Road, it is officially only the latter. It meets
Route 32, providing access to the Turnpike as it passes to the right. Originally all traffic to and from the Turnpike's exit 8A used Route 32, but vehicles leaving the Turnpike and not traveling towards
Jamesburg now exit onto CR 535. CR 535 runs along the boundary between South Brunswick and
Monroe townships and then crosses under the Turnpike. It leaves the border for a short stretch starting at an intersection of Ridge Road/Rhode Hall Road (
CR 522), then returns to what is now the township line with
East Brunswick for . Later it enters East Brunswick completely. CR 535 is one of the main thoroughfares of East Brunswick, along with
Route 18, Ryders Lane (
CR 617), and Dunhams Corner Road. The latter branches off at the same point CR 535 moves all the way into the township, banks hard to the right at East Brunswick Community Park just shy of the Turnpike, then rejoins CR 535. CR 535 intersects Ryders Lane, passes
East Brunswick High School on the right, then approaches a complex interchange with Route 18, providing access to
New Brunswick and the Turnpike at exit 9 to the northwest,
Old Bridge and
Shore Points to the south, and
Spotswood via Summerhill Road (
CR 613). CR 535 itself continues north and crosses into
South River at the intersection of Old Bridge Turnpike (
CR 527), becoming Main Street. CR 535 crosses into
Sayreville and re-enters South River. CR 535 crosses the
South River via the Veteran's Memorial Bridge into Sayreville. Though Main Street (
CR 670) breaks off, Washington Road serves the more densely populated southern half of the borough (through the community of
Parlin), as well as
Sayreville War Memorial High School and Sayreville Middle School. CR 535 enters the outskirts of
South Amboy though it comes up just short of the border between the two municipalities. later, it crosses underneath the
Garden State Parkway and reaches its former northern terminus, an intersection with the other end of Sayreville's Main Street. CR 535 becomes Raritan Street continues another mile to enter South Amboy and ends an interchange with the concurrency of
US 9 and
Route 35 on approach to the
Edison Bridge and the
Victory Bridge, respectively. Raritan Street continues ahead through South Amboy as
CR 686 Spur. ==Major intersections==