U.S. Route 70 enters the state of Tennessee from Arkansas via the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge in Memphis, and runs west to east across 21 counties in all three Grand Divisions of Tennessee, with a total length of 478.48 miles (770.04 km), to end at the North Carolina state line in eastern Cocke County. Along the route, US 70 is accompanied with various U.S. and state highways, including those in three of the state's four major cities.

Cocke County is a county on the eastern border of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,999. Its county seat is Newport. Cocke County comprises the Newport, TN Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the Knoxville-Morristown-Sevierville, Tennessee Combined Statistical Area.