The council has tried before to have unfunded sections of the connection accepted as one of the Government’s shovel-ready projects, but was not successful.
Such sections were dropped from the original business case in order to make progress on much of the project.
Cr Christine Garey told councillors yesterday the job needed to be finished.
Parts of the peninsula road were wider and safer and some were not, she said.
Four tourism attractions were at risk of being cut off if the road was not made more resilient, Cr Garey said.
The council voted 14-1 to include the unfunded sections of the project, from Portobello to Harington Point, in the regional land transport plan for 2024 to 2034.
It is far from a guarantee Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency will chip in with a subsidy, but potentially puts it in the mix.
Cr Lee Vandervis, who voted against, said enough money had been spent on the peninsula already and other areas of Dunedin had missed out.
Talk of the road being cut off was far-fetched, he said.
Deputy mayor Sophie Barker said it had been cut off before and the road was vital for access to visitor attractions.
Parts of the road around Ōtākou had been "chewed in", she said.
