10-11 years ago I rode through New Philadelphia over to Wellsville and then on to the bridge at East Liverpool. We rode SR39 ,it was very hilly in places but ride-able . IIRC we rode through on a Sunday and there wasn't much traffic.

Wellsville to Liverpool was a hassle, On SR 7 it is probably only 2-3 flat miles to East Liverpool but bicycles (at least then) were not allowed on SR 7 . We tried to sneak up SR 7 but only got halfway down the on-ramp before a Sheriffs Patrol caught us, hassled us for 45 mins and sent us back. We had to ride back up the valley and around on a really rough road with a hill of about 12-14% grade. You might want to avoid Wellsville