NC 98 first appeared in 1930 as a state route connecting NC 91 and NC 102 in the coastal region of North Carolina. That routing was abolished in 1931 in favor of an extended NC 58. The current routing of NC 98 was established in 1934 with the road's western terminus at NC 91 (present-day Jones Dairy Road) to US 64 west of Spring Hope. In 1941, NC 98 was moved to a new section of road running from Zebulon Road to US 1 in Youngsville, which would later become part of NC 96. In 1952, NC 98 was again relocated along NC 264 through Wake Forest to Durham, and NC 96 took over its abandoned section. In 2003, a bypass was completed around Wake Forest leading to the rerouting of mainline NC 98 to the bypass and the establishment of a business route through the town center.