US 701 has four business routes in North Carolina, including those through Tabor City, Whiteville, Clarkton, and Clinton.

Shortly after leaving the city, the highway meets the southern end of SC 51 (Browns Ferry Road) and reduces to two lanes.

US 701 passes through Plantersville and meets the eastern end of SC 261 (Pleasant Hill Drive) at Yauhannah before crossing the Georgetown–Horry county line at the Pee Dee River.

[4][5] US 701 passes by the villages of Bucksport, Bucksville—the site of Hebron Church and Buck's Upper Mill Farm— and Toddville as the highway roughly parallels the Waccamaw River north to Conway.

On entering the city limits, the U.S. Highway follows 4th Avenue and expands to a four-lane road with center turn lane.

US 701 meets US 501 (Church Street), US 378 (Wright Boulevard), and SC 905 (4th Avenue) at a triangular junction southwest of downtown.

At its intersection with SC 410 (Green Sea Road), US 701 veers northeast, has an oblique grade crossing of the railroad, and parallels the rail line to the city of Loris.

White Highway through the hamlet of Sydney before reaching the south end of the city of Whiteville.

The highways cross Soules Swamp and intersects the Carolina Southern Railroad at grade, then pass through Whiteville's main street grid.

North of downtown, US 701 has a partial cloverleaf interchange with US 74 and US 76 (Andrew Jackson Highway), a freeway that will carry I-74 in the future.

[4][6] US 701 heads north and intersects NC 210 before crossing the South River into Sampson County.

US 701 crosses Great Coharie Creek, passes along the edge of the unincorporated community of Ingold, and through the hamlet of Butlers Crossroads.

On the southern edge of Clinton, US 701 meets US 421 at a partial cloverleaf interchange; US 701 Business heads straight on Southeast Boulevard while the U.S.

[4][6] US 701 continues through the villages of Keener and Hobbton and meets I-40 at a partial cloverleaf interchange between Monks Crossroads and the town of Newton Grove.

The highway passes to the west of the Bentonville Battlefield and through the hamlets of Overshot and Strickland Crossroads before reaching its northern terminus on the eastern edge of Four Oaks.

NC 96 continues north with US 301 toward Smithfield and US 301 heads southwest on its own toward the center of Four Oaks, providing access to the southbound I-95 interchange ramps just west of US 701.

[4][6] Established in 1932, US 701 began in Charleston, at the intersection with US 17 (King Street) then proceeded east over the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge into Mount Pleasant.

In North Carolina, also in a complete concurrency with NC 23, it traversed through Tabor City, Whiteville, Elizabethtown, Clinton, Newton Grove and ending south of Smithfield.

There are business loops of US 701 serving the North Carolina municipalities of Tabor City, Whiteville, Clarkton, and Clinton.

In South Carolina, a short truck route exists north of the city of Conway.