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. Continuing north, it went through Georgetown, Conway before entering North Carolina. Its routing in South Carolina was in complete concurrency with SC 40, which was removed in 1933. 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.