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In the early 19th century highway construction and maintenance outwith the burghs was the responsibility of statute labour trustees, commissioners of supply, turnpike trusts and justices of the peace. The inconvenience of this system led several counties to obtain local acts for the abolition of turnpike trusts and statute labour assessments, in favour of a single county road trust, which would then be responsible for all public roads in the landward area. Kincardine County Road Trust operated from at least 1878. The Roads and Bridges (Scotland) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict., c.51) made this system general throughout Scotland. All turnpike roads, statute labour roads, highways and bridges in the landward area of a county were to be under the control of a single trust composed of commissioners of supply and elected members. Tolls and statute labour assessments were abolished in favour of a uniform rate imposed on owners and occupiers of lands and heritages. In counties where a local act of parliament had already abolished tolls and formed a road trust the 1878 Act was not compulsory. County road trusts were abolished in 1890 and their duties assumed by county councils acting through district committees (Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, 52 & 53 Vict., c.50).
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