The southern 12.6 miles (20.3 km) of the route is known as the Greenville Southwest Bypass to locals, which was built due to plans relating traffic alleviation the NC 11 and Stantonsburg Road corridors.

As such, the Southwest Bypass Land Use Plan was adopted by the Pitt County Board of Commissioners on October 15, 2018, in order to guide the design and scale of future development along the corridor.

The route continues north to an interchange with NC 102 continuing northward through rural areas of Pitt County, including the Renston Rural Historic District, bypassing Winterville to the west and coming to two closely spaced diamond interchanges with Forlines Road and US 13, US 264, and US 264 Alternate (Dickinson Avenue), with US 264 joining its concurrency with NC 11 Bypass.

In December 2007, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) completed a final environmental impact statement and also identified the preferred alternatives for the project.

The design changes included removing a proposed interchange at NC 903 and shifting the alignment of the bypass eastward.