Fixing the road, near the Clyde Dam, and removing the material which fell in a landslip more than two years ago was originally estimated to cost up to $500,000, but the Central Otago District Council has decided minor mitigation work should be carried out instead.
Council roading manager Julie Muir said detailed designs for the repair project meant the work had to be reconsidered.
It seemed more work would be needed than originally thought and there was a high degree of uncertainty over whether the work would improve the safety of the site.
‘‘Undertaking costly remediation work to achieve a marginal improvement in stability is unlikely to provide value for money,'' she told the council meeting this week.
Central Otago Mayor Tony Lepper said he had been concerned about the extent of the remedial work planned.
‘‘At the last meeting, I said I thought the remedial work was way over the top. But I certainly think that entire road is problematic.''
The road provides access to Lake Dunstan, the Weatherall Creek picnic area and the Dunstan Arm Rowing Club base.
Traffic on Fruitgrowers Rd over the 2013 Christmas holiday period averaged 133 vehicles a day.
Closing the road was not an option, Mr Lepper said.
However, he thought the damaged section of the road could be made one-way.
Instead of a catch fence being installed to deal with falling rocks, he thought the larger rocks which were beside the road should be left to block any smaller rocks that fell.
The council agreed after negotiations with Contact Energy, that the council and the New Zealand Transport Agency would fund the scaled-back remedial work, estimated to cost about $88,000.
In her report, Ms Muir said council staff had discussions with Contact last year about Contact contributing to the cost.
Contact had advised that it did not have ‘‘legal responsibility for the stability of the slope face as it was constructed to provide the road'', she said.
