It connects the town of Pembroke with Interstate 95 (I-95) and U.S. Route 301 (US 301) in Lumberton.

The highway travels in an east-to-west orientation but is signed as a north-south highway (with its easternmost point in Lumberton as its southern terminus), entirely in Robeson County.

South of the I-95 interchange, the road continues to the east towards downtown Lumberton as NC 72.

Two key features of the route is its crossing of the Lumber River near its southern terminus and its pass-by of University of North Carolina at Pembroke in downtown Pembroke.

NC 711 was established in 1951 or 1952 as a reestablishment of a primary highway between Lumberton and Pembroke.