The question of whether to realign the road or have it "closed in perpetuity" has been put in a report for elected representatives at Tuesday’s council meeting.
"There is not budget available for the reinstatement . . . council must now determine whether it will invest in the reinstatement of Beach Rd or close it permanently," council infrastructure manager Joshua Rendell said.
He could not say yet what the cost of reinstatement might be.
But "due to the cost" officers would recommend putting aside "community sentiment" over the road.
Council traffic data showed the most "expedient trip" from Oamaru to Kakanui was via Thousand Acre Rd.
"As such, keeping Beach Rd North open is not a matter of expediency or road efficiency. Rather it is a matter of amenity — the road is considered a highly desirable route in its visual appeal."
Council officers would recommend "negating the community sentiment behind the road’s reopening" in a decision to close it permanently.
The council temporarily closed the road in August to dig out two historic fly-tipping sites on the road edge and had aimed to reopen it by Christmas.
Dealing to the fly tipping had been planned under a $12million-$15million project budget.
This was to fend off the potential environmental disaster of the sea exposing the sites, on the scenic coastal strip just south of Oamaru.
The former Hampden dump at Hampden Beach was the other key cleanup area.
The Beach Rd work finished about 10 days ago.
The council last week announced the road would stay closed while it investigated options to reopen it.
Nearly 60% more rubbish than had originally been projected — 19,000 tonnes in total — had been removed from the Beach Rd sites.
It has left two huge gulches in the middle of where the road used to be.
The council has said extensive core sampling before the work was undertaken to scope the extent of the problem.
But in the latest report, Mr Rendell said it was known that at one of the Beach Rd sites the historic rubbish "extended under the road" and that it would come at a cost to reopen the road.
"Council does not have sufficient budget set aside within Project Reclaim to reopen the road at this time."
While realigning was considered to be "the most cost-effective option", the extra rubbish that had to be removed had "consumed" any remaining Project Reclaim budget.
Mr Rendell said while realignment was considered the best option, further geotechnical work was still needed.
The expected costs to retain coastal roads "in perpetuity" in Waitaki like Beach Rd would range from $2.5m to $11.9m over a 50-year period — meaning it should be put to the public.
