Muskingum River Parkway reopens with full navigation access

McCONNELSVILLE, OH- The Muskingum River Parkway is officially open for uninterrupted travel from Marietta to Zanesville for the first time since 2020. Saturday’s reopening of Rokeby Lock #8 marks a major milestone in restoring Ohio’s historic waterway.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources hosted a public celebration at Lock #7 in McConnelsville, offering free pontoon rides and commemorating the return of full navigational access along the river’s unique hand operated lock system. The Muskingum Riverway Advocacy Council also unveiled a new digital navigation map to guide recreational boaters and promote safe travel.

“In conjunction with the river being open all the way down to Marietta for the first time now in five years, we have created a navigation chart for the Muskingum River, which includes all the depth information, depth contour lines, and its shaded in different shades of blue depending on how deep the water is, it includes all the navigation information like the buoys, the dams, the bridge clearances, the merge crossings, overhead crossings, and all the ramps and docks that are along the river, both private and public and designated as such,” said Fred Frecker, Muskingum Riverway Advocacy Council Board of Directors.

Frecker said the map is designed to make the river safer and more accessible.

“We think it’s a lot safer for the people who are boating on the river to have all that information, and also we’re trying to promote the river, so if someone is coming up the Ohio River and might be thinking about coming up to Muskingum, you wouldn’t want to do that without a navigation chart so hopefully it’ll open up the river to more people for its use,” said Frecker.

The new chart and reopened locks offer a fresh invitation to explore one of Ohio’s most scenic and historic waterways.