Improvements to the Cumborah Road are finally about to start after Walgett Shire Council agreed to replace the remaining narrow one-lane grids.
But the vote didn't come easily at Monday's monthly council meeting, with six councillors voting for the motion and five councillors voting against the idea.
The five one-lane grids on the Cumborah Road will be replaced with two-lane grids which will be sealed on both approaches.
Council has already purchased the grids and will use $100,000 redirected from the Beanbri Road project which has been scrapped.
Council's group infrastructure manager John Burden said council realised the grids needed replacing because of high maintenance costs and safety issues.
"We want to get out of the maintenance mentality.
"The grids were initially going to be replaced with the sealing of the Cumborah Road project, but because we found other monies, we can do it sooner."
However, he said the $100,000 was not sufficient to seal any sections of the road.
Mr Burden said three of the grids on the road were already double lane grids, and believed the transformation of the five remaining one-lane grids would allow the road to maintain its two-way traffic.
He said the grid replacement project was in addition to council's existing reconstruction and sealing project, which still had to start.
Mr Burden said he expected the new double lane grids would be in place by the time council's major project on the Dangar Bridge started in October or November.
Meanwhile, the Lightning Ridge Miners' Association (LRMA) has welcomed the move to upgrade the grids..
LRMA secretary Maxine O'Brien said miners who travelled to the Grawin, Glengarry and Sheepyard opal fields mainly used the Cumborah Road.
She said the road had also seen an increase in traffic volumes since those opal fields opened up.
"It (grid replacement) is an excellent start and a good interim step, that council is beginning to address the Cumborah Road, particularly from a safety aspect.
"But ultimately the whole road needs to be sealed."
She said most of the miners would prefer the road was sealed, because there was a major amount of traffic on it.
"It seems to us that in the long-term it would be more cost effective to have the road sealed than maintain it as a dirt road, particularly as more prospecting areas are being opened up south of the Ridge."
Ms O'Brien said many people had been lobbying to get the road sealed for the past 10 years, but for some reason it had been slipping down the list of council priorities.
She said a few accidents had happened on the road due to its poor condition.
"The eventual sealing of the road will also mean less wear and tear on the mining vehicles, and less money needed to continually upkeep them," Ms O'Brien said.
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