The highway connects the Sandersville area with Hephzibah, via Wrens, with a brief portion in Augusta.

After that, it heads east-northeast, and then northeast, until it enters Burke County, just before it meets SR 305.

The highway briefly heads north-northwest before it turns to the northeast and enters Richmond County and the city limits of Augusta.

Here, the path of SR 88 and that of US 1/SR 4/SR 540 come very close together, forming the shape of the letter "K", but with a very short horizontal line connecting its upright parts.

On the northeastern edge of the city, on the Hephzibah–Augusta line, it meets its eastern terminus, an intersection with US 25/SR 121 (Peach Orchard Road).

[1] The only portion of SR 88 that is part of the National Highway System, a system of routes determined to be the most important for the nation's economy, mobility, and defense, is the entire SR 540 concurrency, from east of Sandersville to Wrens.