Prior to the cutting of this road, travellers between Poole and Ringwood would have been obliged to follow a circuitous route via Kinson (and thence to Longham), but this route had fallen into neglect by the eighteenth century and a straighter route was in any case considered more desirable. Work on the new route was orchestrated by the Poole Turnpike Trust, the new road initially operating as a toll road.
Before the construction of this highway, people traveling from Poole to Ringwood would have had to take a circuitous route through Kinson and then on to Longham, but this route had become outdated by the eighteenth century and a straighter route was deemed more desirable.