The Waitaki District Council is expected to give it final approval at its meeting on August 6.
Two other strategies, produced in 2010 and last year, caused controversy with proposals to close sections of the road when cut by erosion and replace them with inland routes.
Earlier this year, that led to the formation of a community group, chaired by Peter Amyes, to provide suggestions and recommendations to the council after strong submissions opposing closing any sections of the road.
The new strategy was received by the council's assets committee last week, and it recommended it be adopted by the council on August 6.
The council's assets group manager, Neil Jorgensen, said the latest strategy had been updated after a workshop with Mr Amyes' community group.
''The strategy gives a good assurance there is a focus on keeping the road open. That is a major shift from allowing it to close over time [when affected by erosion],'' he said.
The community group went through the final strategy before it went to the committee.
The group requested four points form part of the strategy. -
•The coastal road remain a contiguous, two lane sealed road and eroded areas be upgraded to meet this requirement.
•The inland routes, Bowally and McLean Rds, be excluded from the strategy as being too costly to upgrade to the level of the coastal road.$100,000 be set aside each year for works.
•Provide more certainty over the absolute retention of the coastal road.
However, staff said the first requirement was for a connecting road; the standards to meet traffic numbers, safety and longevity came next.
The inland roads could not be overlooked because they remained the only access if there was a major event.
The council had already set aside $50,000 in this year's budget for work and that could not be changed at this stage.
Unless the council was prepared to underwrite an amount of money then certainty over the retention of the road could not be given.
The road had already been moved inland and reconstructed in several places and erosion showed no signs of stopping, roading manager Michael Voss said.
The argument over sea level rise, increasing severity of storms and ground that is easily eroded raised the issue of the longevity of any remedial works.
