Increased traffic lead to roads deteriorating badly, so in the eighteenth century, turnpike trusts were set up to maintain and improve roads - these trusts were formed from local landowners, merchants and professionals.

There were several trusts along the length of the Bath Road - the area around Slough was covered by the Colnbrook Turnpike Trust. It was set up in 1727, and ran from Cranford Bridge (between Harlington and Hounslow in Middlesex) to the Buckinghamshire side of the Maidenhead Bridge - a distance of seventeen miles.

Turnpike gates and toll-houses were set up at Salt Hill, near to the Castle Inn, and to the west of Colnbrook, near the road to Poyle. Tolls were collected from travellers passing through the gates, and these were used to fund repairs to the road.

Not everybody was keen to pay the tolls. In 1729, the Trust had to remind its' own members that they were not exempt from paying the charges, and the MP for Berkshire, John Elwes, frequently took his horse off the road and rode across country in order to avoid the toll-houses.