NC 12 runs along the middle of the island all the way until it reaches the Cape Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry in Point Beach.

NC 12 then continues north, where it intersects US 64 and US 158 at Whalebone Junction, just south of the town of Nags Head.

The road continues north through Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk and Southern Shores.

The Outer Banks Scenic Byway spans approximately 131 miles and takes about 6 hours to drive.

[15][16] A condition of the extension imposed by the North Carolina Department of Transportation is the road extends no further than Corolla.

Road access along NC 12 was temporarily severed until the island was repaired and restored by sand pumped ashore by the Army Corps of Engineers.

The road was breached by two small inlets, about 200 feet (61 m) across apiece, in the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, and north of Rodanthe.

[19][20] As Hurricane Sandy battered the East Coast in October 2012, it has left portions of NC 12 inundated with salt water and sand.

That forced the closure of the road, leaving the remaining people on the Outer Banks isolated from mainland North Carolina.

Sandy washed out a portion of the road at the S-curves north of Rodanthe on the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.

[22] Hurricane Florence, which made landfall south of the Outer Banks near Wilmington on September 14, 2018, breached the protective dune system and damaged a 1.5 miles (2.4 km)-section of NC 12 on Ocracoke Island.

[23] Hurricane Dorian made landfall on the Outer Banks near Cape Hatteras and caused several dune breaches and closures along NC 12 in September, 2019.

[24] Despite never making landfall in the U.S., and remaining hundreds of miles off shore, Hurricane Teddy caused extensive damage to NC 12 in September 2020 due to storm surge breaching the dune system, and closing the highway between Oregon Inlet and Rodanthe on Hatteras island, and another section between the northern ferry terminals and the main village on Ocracoke island.

[25] A storm in November, 2021 breached the dune system separating NC 12 from the beach; coinciding with high tide this storm caused extensive damage to NC 12 in the area between Rodanthe and Oregon Inlet, and additional damage from flooding occurred at seven other locations along Hatteras Island, isolating many of the communities of the island from the mainland and from each other.

It replaced a section of NC 12 known for frequent closures due to overwash, flooding, and sand accumulation.