Requests from residents to have the 7km stretch of road fully sealed have increased in the past year as the vehicles usage on the road, which serves as an alternative route into Wanaka, has becoming increasingly busy.
In October last year Luggate teenager Jackson Aitchison (17) was killed when his Toyota car left an unsealed stretch the road and hit a tree.
Since then the Queenstown Lakes District Council has since installed a permanent 50kmh zone on the road but parts of the road remain unsealed or sealed only with the dust-suppressing Otta Seal.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council's preferred option is to fully seal the road with financial support from the NZ Transport Agency.
Council staff were now preparing a detailed investment case and progressing with a full design of the road before it would be submitted to the NZTA for approval.
QLDC manager of strategy and performance Deborah Lind said the council was working towards starting work on the design and investment case in the next few months with the aim of starting work on the road some time next year.
The highest cost estimate for sealing the road was about $2.4million which included $315,000 for detailed design and other pre-construction work.
If the NZTA did not fund the sealing work then the council would look to provide funding for the work in the council's long-term plan.
Several Ballantyne Rd residents made submissions to the council's annual plan to have funds secured for the road to be sealed.
Resident Brownyn Coers, who spoke at the annual plan hearing in Wanaka, said she was pleased the council had taken the concerns of the community and residents on board but she would not be completely happy until the road was fully sealed.
``We're starting to see a lot more focus on the road and a lot more planning and discussion so it would be wonderful to see some action whether it is this year or the year after.''
When Mrs Coers and her husband John moved to Ballantyne Rd 10 years ago they were led to believe the road would be sealed.
``10 years ago we were having these discussions so it's not new and since then the road has been getting busier and busier.''
Many of the accidents which happened on the road never got reported to the police or council so they might not realise how unsafe it really was, she said.
``We've had somebody go through our front paddock fence a couple of times and it's not been reported and they just sort of right themselves and come back in a couple of days and fix the fence up.''
Mrs Coers said she was very pleased to hear Queenstown Lakes District mayor Jim Boult support the sealing of the road at the annual plan hearing.
At the annual plan meeting Mr Boult told residents the council wanted to get something done about the road sooner rather than later.
``Rest assured we have the blowtorch firmly on that, to do some time sooner rather than later,'' Mr Boult told the assembled audience.
