The highway runs generally southeast from the central part of
South Carolina to near the
Atlantic Ocean and is listed as a
hurricane evacuation route. Beginning at a junction with
U.S. Highway 52 in Moncks Corner, the route runs northwest along the shoreline of
Lake Moultrie as West Main Street. It then turns right onto Ranger Drive. It turns left onto "Old Number Six Highway" where is later starts a concurrency with
SC 45 as Eutaw Road. The concurrency runs and far from
Lake Marion, and passes through
Eutawville. There SC 45 departs to the west and SC 6 continues along the lake through
Vance to
Santee, where it intersects
Interstate 95. It then adjoins the
Santee State Park on its right. After a concurrency with
SC 267 begins, it becomes Main Street through
Elloree, South Carolina. The concurrency ends when SC 267 turns off to the right onto Lonestar Road. SC 6 then traverses
St. Matthews as Bridge Street before having a brief concurrency with
U.S. Highway 176. Route 26 turns left onto Caw Caw Highway and has an interchange with
Interstate 26. The route turns right and head northwest in a concurrency with
U.S. Route 21 and then separates from U.S. 21 onto Center Hill Road. It turns right on St. Matthews Road in a northwesterly direction, passing through
Swansea as 2nd Street intersecting
U.S. Route 321 in town and joining a concurrency with
SC 302 as Edmund Hwy. The concurrency ends when SC 6 turns to the left onto S. Lake Drive where it heads northwest to
Red Bank. In Red Bank, it intersects with
Interstate 20. The route then passes through
Lexington where it briefly separates into a one-way street pair. It crosses
U.S. Route 1 and has a brief concurrency with
U.S. Route 378. SC 6 passes just east of
Lake Murray (over the
Saluda Dam as a divided highway). In
Irmo, SC 6 changes from N. Lake Drive to Dreher Shoals Road before ending at a junction with
U.S. Highway 76 in
Ballentine. The last section of the route runs south and west of
Columbia, the state capital. Counties traversed by the route include Berkeley,
Orangeburg,
Calhoun,
Lexington, and Richland. ==Major intersections==