The highway connects the town of Linden to nearby Erwin to Fayetteville.

NC 217 is a two-lane rural highway that serves as a back-door road between Erwin and Fayetteville, connecting the town of Linden.

[1] Also in Erwin, the highway is concurrent with North Carolina Bicycle Route 5 from the southern NC 82 intersection to J Street.

In 1936, it was extended north (concurrency with NC 82) to US 421/NC 60 (now Denim Drive).

In 1957 it was extended north again to its current northern terminus at US 421/NC 55.