Best Route to Myrtle Beach From Columbia, SC (Conway: live in, area)

[kirkwall28]

We will be taking a trip to Myrtle Beach here shortly and spending the night in Columbia, SC the night before. In the past we have taken I-20 to 501 into Myrtle Beach but always find ourselves hitting quite a bit of traffic. I have been looking and have noticed that there is also US-76/378 that would take us into Conway area and then 501 the rest of the way. Has anybody taken this route or have any advice on which route to take?
Thanks,

[scpirate]

I live in Columbia and we always take 378 to Myrtle. It's not quite as fast as I-20 but there has never been any traffic and it's more of a direct shot into Myrtle then taking I-20. The only time you'll hit traffic is when you start to get into Conway and then Myrtle but that's to be expected.

[KavH]

We have taken both routes....really depends on the time of day. We just yesterday came through on the I-20 version and had no problem at all. One thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the 378 route is one lane each direction so should something happen or you get behind a slow group you have no way out.