The air has been cleared between Central Otago Mayor Tony Lepper and the New Zealand Transport Agency after a meeting yesterday at which the state of Nevis Bluff was explained.
Mr Lepper called for the ''please explain'' meeting to find out why there were so many delays for motorists travelling between Queenstown and Cromwell.
Earlier this week, he said the delays were having what he called a ''severe'' impact on the local economy with so many people getting tied up with road closures, sometimes for more than an hour.
He and Deputy Mayor Neil Gillespie met the agency's Central Otago area manager, John Jarvis, and two consultants yesterday.
''He's [Mr Jarvis] convinced us that the problem is bigger than everyone realised.
''From my point of view, we've all forgotten about the [2000] slip and how bad it was,'' Mr Lepper said.
In 2000, a slip about 30m long and 15m deep closed the road for several weeks and cost about $2.5 million to clean up.
''[We] now understand where they are coming from and I was able to impress on them the effect it has on us,'' Mr Lepper said.
Mr Jarvis said the agency was now considering installing digital signs to inform motorists of the delays but for now, those delays were over.
For almost two months, the agency has been working on the bluff and causing delays to motorists.
Mr Jarvis said that for the most part, those delays had been only about 20 minutes, but between 1pm and 2pm, Monday to Friday, the road had been closed.
Agency assessments had concluded that would be the least disruptive time.
He said there was no quick fix for the area and there had been problems ever since the road was built in the late 1800s.
Since 2000, the agency has spent an average of $400,000 a year on maintaining the 800m-long unstable area.
