The Interstate eventually will run from I-40 to Morehead City, where it will terminate along the Northern Carteret Bypass, north of Beaufort.

After connecting with Wayne Memorial Drive, US 13, and Parkstown Road, it merges back as the through traffic with US 70 near La Grange.

Justification for the designation included better connections with Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, the North Carolina Global Transpark, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, and the Port of Morehead City with the rest of state and the eastern seaboard.

[12][13] On March 30, 2016, Governor Pat McCrory and various officials unveiled "Future Interstate" signage along the corridor.

[29][30] Planning for the bypass began in 1991, but construction did not start until 2005 because of several delays regarding the dwarf wedgemussel, an endangered species, habitat in the area.

Originally scheduled for completion in June 2009, a severe drought in 2007–2008 allowed construction to proceed more rapidly than anticipated.

[40] On December 16, 2011, the central section became the first segment of the Goldsboro Bypass to open; signed as NC 44.

[2] On September 25, 2015, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) approved the establishment of US 70 Byp., dependent on the completion of the Goldsboro Bypass.

[2] The section opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony and all signage that formally delineate NC 44 would be changed to US 70 Byp.

[47] A 5-mile (8.0 km) section of US 70 at Wilson's Mills, connecting to the Clayton Bypass in the west will be upgraded to a freeway for an estimated $31 million.

Some of this section is already a freeway but will require improvements to bring it up to interstate standards and add an interchange with I-95.

Adding the interchange will require shifting I-95, which is going to be widened in this area, 2,000 feet (610 m) east to incorporate the new changes.

Currently, project funding has been suspended by NCDOT due to agency's budget issues.

The agency is currently working with state legislators to find alternative sources of revenue.

This alternative would be approximately 21 miles (34 km) of a four-lane, median divided freeway accessible via ramps at 10 interchanges.

[59] Part of the project will also build service roads along the freeway as well as approximately 6.5 miles (10.5 km) of new roadway that will be south of the current US 70 alignment in the Kinston area.

[60] When complete, the bypass would improve regional mobility, connectivity, and capacity for US 70, reducing traffic congestion and delays that exist along US 70 between La Grange and Dover.

[63][64] In James City, a 5.1-mile (8.2 km) segment of the US 70 improvement project will upgrade the existing highway to freeway standards by elevating it over existing surface streets as a six-lane, median divided freeway, improving the frontage roads, removing 49 businesses and 17 homes, converting the five intersections along this segment to interchanges with all but one of them being dogbones (the other will be a parclo), and eliminating a railroad crossing just south of exit 417.

[72] With the release of the 2020 draft STIP, it was revealed that NCDOT was attempting to start construction in 2020, but this was delayed several times due to design and funding issues before a $242.35 million design-build contract for construction was finally awarded to Balfour Beatty in February 2023.

Property acquisition started in 2016, with construction expected to begin in February 2019 and be completed in 2022 at an estimated cost of $173 million.

[79][80] According to Balfour Beatty, the project includes the construction of 15 bridges, which will require around 4.43 million cubic meters of borrow material and 288,000 tonnes of asphalt.