Shetland Islands Council

Shetland Islands Council serves the traditional county of Zetland. This includes all of the islands in the archipelago.

All the roads in the authority are non-trunk roads and are maintained by Shetland Islands Council. There are therefore no Transport Scotland Roads in Shetland. As of 2016, Government Statistics say that the council is responsible for 139.8 miles of A roads; 96.2 miles of B roads and 412.4 miles of other roads.

Principal and Classified Numbered Roads

The following is a list of A and B classified roads that are at least partially managed by the authority:

Route	From	To	Length
A968	Hillside, Mainland	Haroldswick, Unst	41.9 miles	View
A969	Garthspool	Clickimin	1.6 miles	View
A970	Grutness	Isbister	71.4 miles	View
A971	Tingwall	Melby and Walls	26.0 miles	View
B9071	Culswick	Vidlin	26.5 miles	View
B9072	Commercial Street	King Harald Street	0.2 miles	View
B9073	Wick	Scalloway	1.4 miles	View
B9074	Veensgarth	Hamnavoe	7.9 miles	View
B9075	Weisdale	Laxo	13.8 miles	View
B9076	Brae	Firth	7.2 miles	View
B9078	Hillswick	Stenness	5.9 miles	View
B9079	Eela Water	Ollaberry	2.5 miles	View
B9081	Ulsta	Camb	12.7 miles	View
B9082	Gutcher	Cullivoe	2.4 miles	View
B9083	Cullivoe	Haa of Houlland	1.7 miles	View
B9084	Uyeasound turn	Uyeasound pier	0.6 miles	View
B9086	Haroldswick	Stackhoull	2.2 miles	View
B9087	Haroldswick	Kirkaton	2.1 miles	View
B9088	Brough Lodge	Funzie	5.9 miles	View
B9122	Channerwick	Boddam	5.3 miles	View

Classified Unnumbered Roads

Main Article: Shetland Islands Council (Class III roads)

For their Class III road network, the authority uses "C" prefixes.

Road Numbering in Shetland

Road numbering in Shetland is particularly intriguing, because the main A-roads have several spurs bearing the same number. What is more intriguing is that this system predates 1932 (it can be seen on the 1932 edition of the Ten-Mile Road Map of Great Britain), and is virtually the only example of the use of spur roads prior to 1935, with the only other known example being the A708 near Selkirk.

The relative scarcity of maps of Shetland means that we can only date the introduction of the spur roads to some time between 1922 and 1932.

Junctions

Main Article: Shetland Islands Council (Junctions)

Bridges, Tunnels, and other Crossings

Main Article: Shetland Islands Council (Crossings)

Ferries

The Shetland Islands are connected directly to Aberdeen on the mainland with a passenger ferry and a freight ferry making the crossing in each direction every night. Several nights each week these ferries also call at Kirkwall on Orkney, these stops timed for around midnight either way, and adding two hours to the crossing time. These ferries are provided by Northlink Ferries, under direct contract to the Scottish Government.

There is also a network of inter-island ferries operated by the Shetland Islands Council. Some of these are run with two vessels on a shuttle service, notably the Whalsay and Yell services. Unst and Fetlar are both served by the Bluemull Sound Ferry, albeit with a less frequent service to Fetlar. Similarly, there is some overlap between the Whalsay and Out Skerries services, although the latter has its own vessel operating a less frequent service. Bressay, which lies opposite Lerwick has a single vessel providing an hourly service. Papa Stour is served by two return services up to five days a week, while the ferries to distant Foula and Fair Isle only operate once a week in the winter, and two or three days a week in the summer. More frequent air connections are provided to both islands.