US 70 enters North Carolina as a two-lane road in concurrency with US 25. Going southeast, it widens to four-lane near Marshall, merging farther down with I-26/US 19/US 23 going into Asheville. In the downtown area, it breaks from the U.S. 19/23 freeway onto city streets and through Beaucatcher Tunnel as it goes east; paralleling north of I-40, going through the cities Marion, Morganton, Hickory, Conover and Statesville. From there, it goes southeast to Salisbury, where it starts to parallel I-85 north through Lexington, Thomasville, High Point and Greensboro, in concurrency with I-85 Bus/US 29.