It winds its way north as a two-lane highway through mountains for several miles before passing through farmland to enter Lewisburg, where it comes to an intersection and becomes concurrent with US 31A/SR 106.

They bypass downtown as a four-lane undivided highway along the east side, where they pass through both residential and business areas and become concurrent with US 431 at an intersection with US 431 Business/SR 50.

The highway then curves to the northwest to cross a bridge over a creek before coming to an intersection with US 31A Business/US 431 Business/SR 11, where US 31A and SR 272 split from US 431/SR 106 to follow SR 11 north.

SR 272 splits off shortly thereafter and leaves Lewisburg to pass through a mix of farmland and wooded areas as a two-lane highway for the next several miles, where it passes through the community of Verona.

The highway then crosses a bridge over the Duck River shortly before coming to an end at an intersection with SR 99 just a few miles southwest of Chapel Hill.