The Otago Regional Council has approved the New Zealand Transport Agency's resource consent application for ongoing flood maintenance and highway protection works at Pipson Creek, near Makarora.
The council's finance and corporate committee has rubber-stamped the application, allowing the works to be carried out without the need for recourse to emergency works provisions.
NZTA Central Otago area engineer John Jarvis said this week the Pipson Creek flood risk would remain an ongoing issue for years to come.
"It is one we don't have a permanent fix for," he said.
Intense rain bursts in the upper Pipson Creek catchment bring down thousands of cumecs of water, mud and rocks each time.
The floods have closed State Highway 6 at Pipson Creek bridge nine times since 1998.
The consent would streamline procedures for doing work in the riverbed, including temporary creek diversions, discharging water, silt and debris into the Makarora River and removing accumulated material from the river bed.
