1920s to 1940s SR 18 was established at least as early as 1919 on its current path, from Greenville to Barnesville. By the end of September 1921, it was extended south-southeast on a concurrency with SR 41 to
Harris, then on a sole path southwest to SR 1 in
Chipley. Between October 1926 and October 1929, the Chipley–Harris segment had a "completed hard surface". By the middle of 1930, the Harris–Greenville segment also had a completed hard surface. In February 1932, SR 18 was established on a segment from Forsyth to Gray. However, there was no indication if they were connected via a concurrency with US 41/SR 19. In September, a portion east of Greenville had a completed hard surface. In May 1933, the entire Greenville–Woodbury segment was completed. In February 1934, SR 18 was extended westward to West Point. Just over two years later, a portion west of Zebulon was completed. Between September 1938 and July 1939, the path of SR 19 from Barnesville to just southeast of Forsyth was truncated to the latter point. SR 18 was designated on this segment instead. It was also extended southeast from Gray to SR 57 south of Gordon. The segment from Barnesville to southeast of Forsyth, a portion south-southeast of Gray; and the portion south of Gordon all had a completed hard surface. In 1942, two segments had a completed hard surface: a portion west of Chipley and from Woodbury to the approximate location of Molena. Two years later, SR 18 was extended south-southwest to Jeffersonville. Between the beginning of 1945 and November 1946, the entire Woodbury–Zebulon segment was hard surfaced. By February 1948, two segments were also hard surfaced: the West Point–Chipley segment and from Gray to south-southwest of Gordon.
1950s to 2000s Between April 1949 and August 1950, US 27 Alt. was designated on the Harris City–Greensville segment. Two segments were hard surfaced: the Zebulon–Barnesville segment and the western part of the Monroe County portion of the Forsyth–Gray segment. By the beginning of 1952, the entire eastern part of this last segment (except for the eastern end) was hard surfaced. In 1953, the extreme eastern end of this segment was also hard surfaced. Between June 1954 and June 1955, the portion of SR 18 from south of Gordon to Jeffersonville was hard surfaced. By July 1957, a portion west-southwest of Gray was also hard surfaced. Between June 1960 and June 1963, the Junes County portion of the Forsyth–Gray segment was hard surfaced. By the beginning of 1966, the southern part of a south-southwest
bypass of Barnesville was proposed from SR 18 in
Aldora to an unnumbered road south of Barnesville. In 1967, the bypass was built as part of US 341/SR 7. In 1986, the path of SR 18 was rerouted in Barnesville: it traveled north on US 341/SR 7, then south-southeast on US 41, before resuming its previous path. In 1993, part of a southern bypass of Gray, designated as
SR 932, was proposed from US 129/SR 11/SR 18/SR 22 in the southwest part of the city to SR 18 in the southeastern part of it. Five years later, the path of SR 18 in Griffin was shifted southward, replacing the proposed path of SR 932. In 2007, the path of US 41/SR 18 in the Barnesville area was shifted southward, truncating the path of US 341/SR 7 to the current northern terminus. ==Major intersections==