PLANNING


OHIO HISTORIC NATIONAL ROAD
DESIGN HANDBOOK

Ohio Historic Nationalo Road All-American Road

Ohio


2 0 0 7  S C E N I C  B Y W A Y  A W A R D  W I N N E R  f o r

P L A N N I N G

In Ohio, the Historic National Road’s leadership 
has recognized the challenges that lie beyond 
the designation phase, and created a design 
handbook to help communities craft long-term 
planning solutions for their All-American Road. 
This effort is clearly meant to preserve, protect 
and enhance the byway’s qualities that led to its 
designation. In fact, the handbook development 
accomplished an important goal of the byway’s 
corridor management plan. 

INNOVATION FOR FUTURE PLANNING

The innovative Ohio Historic National Road Design Handbook is 
designed for many types of local audiences, including regional 
planners, local government officials and staff, property owners, 
developers, and others with an interest in the road. It offers a 
variety of tools, resources, and design guidance to match an 
array of circumstances along the 227-mile corridor. 

The handbook first leads users through the process of defining 
their historic character and context. Next they see specific 
recommendations for directly protecting historic structures 
through planning, stewardship, maintenance, and rehabilitation. 
Similarly specific recommendations also help protect properties 
on either side of the road through community and transportation 
planning, zoning, development guidelines, and use of land 
conservation tools. Throughout the handbook, case studies 
show how all these concepts actually work in the real world. 

COMMITMENT TO REACHING CONSENSUS

The handbook alone provides a solid model for future planning 
by byway stakeholders. The effective process of community 
involvement to develop the document is equally a model for 
replication. In Ohio, the process began with an electronic 
questionnaire sent to a database of State, county, municipal 
and township contacts. After identifying future plans for the 
road and potential future design issues, the handbook team
set up a website to distribute this information and to gather 
more input. About 500 postcards were sent to individuals 
across the State, explaining the website and asking them to 
visit online for further information. From this site, the handbook 
team collected information and answered questions from 
the public. In addition, three workshops were held across the 
State to gather more face-to-face input. Through the process, 
the handbook team sought consensus on the information 
and recommendations to present in the publication. 

MODEL OF IMPLEMENTATION

The result has been a well-received handbook frequently used 
by local byway communities. “This is a creative resource that 
pays credence to the significance of the Ohio National Road 
and uniqueness of the Road’s history, design, and landscape. 
This office is often consulted on design and planning concepts, 
and I am certain the Handbook will help … ensure our economic 
and community development projects will be sensitive to the 
design guidelines most compatible for projects in the National 
Road Corridor,” said Jeff Johnson, Executive Director of the 
Community Improvement Corporation of Springfield and Clark 
County, Ohio. 

PHOTOS: (1) Cover of the Ohio HIstoric National Road Design 
Handbook, (2) Shot of the Pennsylvania House Ohio National
Marker, and (3) view of the Ohio Historic National Road 
All-American Road.

MOTTO: Sharing Success and Honoring Excellence