The motion to bolster a draft submission recommending the New Zealand Transport Agency reclassify key tourism routes in the district's state highway network was carried at this week's infrastructure services committee meeting.
The submission recommends upgrading the classification of SH6 between Queenstown and Milford Sound from "regional strategic" to "national strategic".
The agency has announced concept funding for a new two-lane $19 million bridge downstream from Kawarau Falls.
A design tender is expected to be awarded by the end of the year, although construction is still unlikely to begin before 2016.
Tabled by council asset management engineer Andrew Edgar, the draft submission also calls for higher classification of other crucial routes.
It recommends SH6 and SH84 between Wanaka and Luggate be reclassified to "regional strategic" from the lower "regional connector" because the route is an important supply line between Cromwell and Queenstown.
Mr Edgar's draft also questions the validity of the "regional connector" status of SH6 between Wanaka and the West Coast.
"It is an important tourist connector between the Queenstown Lakes district and the West Coast which contains another tourist top ten destination, the glaciers Fox and Franz Josef."
SH6 between Queenstown and Invercargill via Five Rivers is classified a "regional distributor" - a status the report said was "inappropriate".
"Invercargill is closer by road than Dunedin and is therefore an important supply route for Queenstown.
"For example, when Queenstown airport is closed, flights are diverted in the first instance to Invercargill airport.
"International tourists will have already been delayed, but to have the link between Invercargill and Queenstown at a lower level of service than at least a regional connector will not help reduce the angst for these tourists," the draft submission said.
In February, the Otago Daily Times reported the Government had decided extending Queenstown Airport was an issue of "national significance".
"Queenstown is a place of national significance and the airport is the gateway to an iconic region of New Zealand that is growing as a tourist destination," Dr Smith said.
Cr Trevor Tattersfield said the council should seize on the minister's words and take the opportunity to highlight them and strengthen the submission to the agency.
Citing the Frankton roundabout and Kawarau Falls bridge as key airport links, Cr Tattersfield said the resort "should not have to compete on a national basis for funding".
Cr John Mann said the council had been "chipping away" at the issue of government funding for state highways and the Kawarau Falls bridge for six years.
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