Route:

Enters Wake County 1 mile west of intersection with NC 50.
Leaves Wake County 6 miles east of Wake Forest.
Runs almost due east-west.

Major
Intersections:

NC 50, 1 mile east of the Durham county line.
US 1 just inside Wake Forest.
US 1A in downtown Wake Forest.
NC 96, just before the Franklin county line.

History:

Originally, 98 just entered Wake County for a mile or two.  It ran over today's NC 96 from the current 96-98 intersection north to Youngsville.  At this time, 96 was NC 264.  In late 1952/early '53, 264 was renumbered to 96, the original 98 from the 264-98 intersection north was also renumbered to 96, and 264 west to Wake Forest was renumbered to 98.  98 was extended to Durham, its current terminus, at this time also.

Attractions:

Runs past the original Wake Forest University in--you guessed it--Wake Forest.  While in the town that shares its name, WFU was called Wake Forest College.  It moved to Winston-Salem in 1954.  98 also runs fairly close to Falls Lake from east of Wake Forest to about NC 50.

Comments:

98 is a road that one must be quite awake to drive.  It is very straight, especially between 50 and Wake Forest.  Before Falls Lake was created in the early '80s, part of 98 ran along a route south of the current one.  Falls of the Neuse Rd. still ends at "Old NC 98", requiring a couple of turns to get to the current 98.

Quite busy in the mornings, as many northern Wake residents use 98 as a shortcut to busy US 70 to get to RTP. The proposed East End Connector between the Durham Freeway and US 70 in east Durham will eventually mean that 98 will be much busier than it even is now.