US highways in Charleston, SC

Below is the last southbound US 52/eastbound US 78 signage in Charleston:

Dawson, Sep. 2001

We're looking south on Rivers Avenue, where US 78 is still co-signed with US 52. About a mile ahead, the two routes split and continue down opposite sides of a railroad (US 52 follows Meeting Street, and US 78 uses King Street). About 3 miles ahead, maps indicate "Spur US 52" splits off Meeting on Morrison Drive (that becomes Bay Street and goes all the way downtown). And about 4 miles ahead, these two routes ostensibly terminate shy of downtown, at Line Street (just past the US 17 viaduct) - two blocks from each other, and one block from the east terminus of I-26. It's been that way for years, ever since US 17 was still on surface streets:

Gousha, c. 1959

The King exit from US 17 is not signed for US 78 (instead, my understanding is that signage on US 17 directs motorists to use I-26 to get to North US 52/US 78). All this is enough to make you think maybe SC DoT has re-routed US 52/78 traffic onto I-26 all the way from North Charleston to US 17. But their official route lists do not bear that out, and there are more than a few signs which indicate US 52 and US 78 still use surface streets. The shot below is one of them:

Dawson, Sep. 2001

That's where northbound Morrison Drive curves into eastbound Mt. Pleasant Street at Meeting (this is actually the north end of "Spur US 52", another poorly-marked route). Note that US 52 is signed "West" here (instead of "North"). And for some reason it's not signed to the south (left) at all. The signs in the distance are shown close-up below:

Dawson, Sep. 2001

As you can see, US 78 is signed both directions on King from Mt. Pleasant. More photos and info about the actual endpoints of these routes can be found on my main US 52 and US 78 pages.