The highway connects two of western Benton County's population centers to Bentonville and Interstate 49 (I-49), the main north–south route in the Northwest Arkansas region.

Including concurrencies, the highest traffic segment in 2021 was between Walton Boulevard and Greenhouse Road in Bentonville, with 36,000 vehicles per day on average.

Beginning at a junction with Highway 43, the route runs east through sparsely populated agricultural land, curving south to cross Spavinaw Creek before curving back east and running into the small town of Decatur.

After passing through another rural section of Benton County, Highway 102 curves to become a section line road entering Centerton, where it briefly overlaps Highway 279 before becoming a main commercial thoroughfare known as Centerton Boulevard.

[7] The highway passes through residential and commercial districts of Bentonville before crossing Walton Boulevard (former US 71B).

Continuing east, Highway 102 serves as the southern boundary of Walmart headquarters[8] before meeting I-49/US 62/US 71.

[14] Fourteen months later, the highway's eastern terminus was truncated to AR 94 in Rogers.

This situation continued until August 18, 2004, when the Arkansas State Highway Commission redesignated the segment running along Main Street in Centerton as AR 102B.