Till the middle of last century Shetland was almost devoid of roads. All traffic had to go by water, while travelling by land was on foot or on horseback over moorland tracks. The failure of the potato crop in 1846 and following years caused much distress in the islands; and the food and money sent by the Board for the Relief of Destitution in the Highlands enabled labour to be hired for road-making. Between 1849 and 1852 about 120 miles of roads were constructed, joining Lerwick with Dunrossness on the south, with Scalloway and Walls on the west, and with Lunna, Mossbank and Hillswick on the north; while a road 17 miles long was constructed through Yell. Under the Zetland Roads Act (1864) roads were improved and extended all over the islands. The County Council now manages all roads and bridges.

The southern terminus of the main road is Grutness, near Sumburgh. From this point to Lerwick the road skirts the east side of the island, with branches leading to various districts. From Lerwick the north road begins by climbing the hill of Fitch. At the bridge of Fitch a branch diverges to Scalloway; and further on, at Tingwall, is the junction of another route to the ancient capital. Here the main road bifurcates, one fork going in a westerly direction through Whiteness, Weisdale, Aithsting, Walls and Sandness, and terminating at Huxter. The other fork after passing Girlsta and Sandwater, enters the dreary Lang Kame, a stretch of five miles without a single habitation, where, says superstition, the benighted traveller may meet “Da Trows,” the goblins of Norse mythology. The road then runs by the Loch of Voe to Olnafirth Kirk. Here it divides—going on the right by Dales Voe to Mossbank, on the left to the narrow neck between Busta Voe and Sullom Voe and thence by Mavis Grind past Punds Water. Again it branches, to Ollaberry on the right and Hillswick on the left. In Yell the chief road runs from Burra Voe to Cullivoe in the north-east. The trunk road in Unst—the best in the islands—stretches from Uyeasound to Norwich.