The route initially travels northeast but curves south-southeast soon after it begins.

The route crosses a railroad at-grade and then reaches US 68 at a four-way intersection.

SR 296 remains on Ludlow Road for a short time; it almost immediately turns right onto Urbana Woodstock Pike; soon after this intersection, it makes one last turn left to the north.

[3] Throughout its entire length, the route travels through a mixture of single-family residential homes, forest areas, and farmland.

[8] Between 1962 and June 1963, because of the Interstate Highway System, many routes in Ohio were renumbered.