The Ravensbourne rail overbridge should be reopened to provide a safe crossing point and restore a historic landmark, Chalmers Community Board chairwoman Jan Tucker said at last week's meeting.
Board members voted unanimously to recommend the upgrade to the Dunedin City Council's infrastructure services committee.
Work to upgrade and reopen the overbridge, which is deemed unsafe, has stalled because of a disagreement between the regional and city councils over which authority has responsibility.
City council transportation operations policy engineer Pieter Besuijen told the Otago Daily Times the responsibility issue was not resolved, and would go before the committee in February.
A report to the community board meeting said the bridge needed a minimum $124,000 spent on upgrading its timberwork, with further expense likely for yearly inspections and maintenance.
The report says the city council had agreed to accept responsibility for the bridge on the condition it was upgraded to a satisfactory standard, but it was found to be in need of repair. It says the upgrade could be funded by savings from the construction of the revised Portobello Rd parking bay and information site.
The report advised there was a risk KiwiRail would remove the bridge if the work was not done, which would be a waste of the Otago Regional Council's project to raise the bridge in 2006 to allow passage of higher rolling stock.
Mrs Tucker said the bridge, which has been closed since August 2009, had historic value.
It was also the only safe crossing point for pedestrians to the harbour cycleway-walkway.
The Otago Regional Council has previously disputed it did not hold up its end of the agreement.
