Washington County has a network of state roads spanning out from Marietta like spokes of a wheel. The history of many of them are rooted in how early residents of the area moved from one location to the next.

The major roads of Washington County started off as paths that connected the early communities that sprung up in the county as it grew from the early settlement of Marietta. At first, they were merely paths on which people either walked or rode horses. As transportation methods changed, the paths were widened to accommodate wagons. The rivers of course provided the transportation network in the county, and it was along the valleys created by the waterways where many of the early roads were built.

The waterways provided the needed power for communities to operate. The mills around the counties were a key part of the communities that grew up around them. The waterways also created flat bottom land that was good for farming and road building. The first vehicles to travel them were limited by horsepower. The horsepower was limited by the number of horses a person had to pull their wagons, and hills often proved to be a challenge for the team trying to pull a loaded wagon.

Look at the state roads that connect Marietta to other communities in the area and you can frequently see how the early road builders dealt with the challenges they had. Look closely and you can see how the roads have changed to adjust to changing transportation methods. Ohio 60 to Beverly is a great example, closely following the Muskingum River to Beverly the road, except for one hill near Devola, stays at a near constant elevation for over 20 miles.

The same can be said for Ohio 7 between Marietta and Belpre, and Marietta and Newport. Newport Pike once had a toll charged on it by those that helped develop it. The nickname stuck for the road long after the toll booth was removed. Between Marietta and Belpre, much of the road has been rerouted slightly further from the river. The fact that part of the original road has fallen into the river is a validation that it was a good move.

As traffic got faster and more powerful, the need to follow the rivers got less important. The construction of Interstate 77, which brought change to Marietta, came after local leaders pointed out that the federal government was off in their calculations. They used old highways to figure mileage, not the much shorter distances that the new network of roads would have simply by building straight roads. I-77 they argued, should be built with the leftover miles. Remarkably, they won the argument, and the highway was built.

Just west of Marietta on 550 you can see a great example of how a road was shortened. Look to your left as you leave town, and you can see part of the old road wrapping around a hill. The hill was bypassed by cutting through it. Taking out curves and cutting off hills is something that continues to be done to highways to improve them.

For three decades I have lived off Ohio 676. The highway is known as a very curvy road. The curves start before you even leave Marietta. Lancaster Street follows the top of a ridge that is Harmar Hill. As it leaves the city it goes through what everyone refers to as the “S” turns. The “S” stands for SAME because it is a precursor to what you will experience for a while. The hill and curves have been known to make some people carsick. Unlike other state roads in the county, 676 follows the ridges, not the valley as it makes its way west. The road was gravel until the 1940s, and travel was likely slow. The only people that drive slow on it now are those that don’t drive it daily. The state does an impressive job maintaining it. Snow removal and the paved surface is normally in great shape.

The state has closed short sections of 676 three times in those 30 years to help bring the road into the modern era of driving. Twice they removed the tops of the hills to eliminate visibility issues. Once they took off the side of a hill because it was hard to see oncoming traffic. Near Watertown you can see remnants of where the road once traveled. It was rerouted to make it a little straighter.

Washington County’s other curvy state highway, Ohio 26, follows the Little Muskingum through the Wayne National Forest. The river curves a lot, and so does the road as it makes its way toward Monroe County. The road passes several covered bridges that were once the state-of-the-art way to get travelers across waterways.

Art Smith is online manager of The Times, He can be contact at asmith@mariettatimes.com