Elm Cottage owner and operator and Australian Regional Tourism Network chairman David Sheldon has fought for the upgrade for more than a decade in the interest of economic development and improved services.

A petition prepared for the NSW and ACT governments and Tumut Shire Council, launched on Monday, calls for an upgrade to the 124km Brindabella Road from Tumut to Canberra as an all-weather and tourist drive.

Mr Sheldon believes a new road would open up economic development and improve education, employment, tourism, health, professional services and road safety.

"(The new road) will offer them an experience to capture regional Australia at its best and what could be one of the most iconic drives in Australia," he said.

"It would give our retail and all services a huge boost.

"I think it would be a magnet to boost the population.

"It's just a corridor that opens up services and it's a two-way benefit."

Mr Sheldon said regional Australia was losing people to major, more metropolitan centres.

He suggested the two Canberra universities could house campuses at Tumut because it was ideal for environmental or forestry departments if the road went ahead.

Mr Sheldon said the drive would open southwest NSW and the ACT to international and domestic visitors, adding Regional Development Australia could potentially partially fund the project.

"The people who are sitting on their hands for years are the Tumut Shire Council," he said, adding the upgrade first floated a century ago.

"I'm the first to admit and point out there's problems with black ice.

"That's why some re-engineering or planning needs to be looked at.

"No one's denying it's a huge cost involved."

But Mr Sheldon remains adamant the potential to capture an otherwise transient tourism market and the capacity to boost local economies far outweighs the significant costs, estimated to be between $50 million and $100 million.

He did clarify, however, no real costing had been done in years.

The upgrade would also improve road safety, with 44km of the 124km road unsealed.

"It's not an all-weather road at the moment," Mr Sheldon said.

"Some part of the road is in excellent condition, but other parts are not so good."

Mr Sheldon said the petition, which needs 10,000 signatures before being forwarded to Tumut Council or the state government, had so far been well supported, but conceded signatures were what mattered.

"If we don't get the signatures, the numbers speak for themselves," he said.

To join the campaign, visit www.change.org.

THE Tumut Shire Council (TSC) has defended its accused reticence on the proposed upgrade of Brindabella Road.

A petition rolled out on Monday, headed by the Australian Regional Tourism Network chairman David Sheldon, calls for the 124km road from Tumut to Canberra to be developed into an all-weather tourist drive.

Mr Sheldon said TSC had been "sitting on their hands for years" and hoped the petition prepared for them and the NSW and ACT governments would spur them into action.

But Tumut mayor Trina Thompson denied council didn't back the upgrade.

She threw her support behind it, but stressed it wasn't financially viable at this stage.

"Council is fully supportive of a future upgrade of Brindabella Road, but it's not council's sole responsibility," she said.

"It's a complicated issue.

"Financially, we don't have the money at this stage.

"Up until this point, Tumut Shire Council has made no indication it won't support it."

Mrs Thompson said council had previously focused on the Goccup Road upgrade, but stressed they hadn't neglected Brindabella Road.

"We're not anti-Brindabella," she clarified.

Council will hear from a roads co-ordinator at their next meeting and will put a counter on the road to measure traffic.

Mrs Thompson believed the nature of the road, partially owned by ACT, council, Forestry Corporation of NSW and National Parks, would make the upgrade difficult.

"The geography and topography makes it an incredibly difficult road to develop," she said.

"It's about determining what is required to reach a standard and the standard people expect and have clear definitions of who has responsibility for what sections.

"We support it but at this stage, financially it (won't go ahead).

"It's not an easy fix and if it was, it would have been done well before this.

"It will be a very expensive exercise and will be valuable when it's done."

Mrs Thompson said TSC had just applied for a $4 million upgrade to a section of road out that way.

"So it's not as if we're sitting on our hands," she said.