It serves southern Richland County and access to the Congaree National Park.

It traverses west, passing alongside the South Carolina State House and the University of South Carolina, before turning onto Rosewood Drive and then onto Bluff Road.

After leaving the Columbia city limits, it continues through southeastern Richland County as a two-lane rural highway to U.S. Route 601 (US 601).

In 1950, SC 48 was straightened out between Gadsden and Wateree, leaving behind Old Bluff Road.

In 1978, SC 48 was extended west to its current western terminus at Elmwood Avenue.