MEMBER for Riverina Michael McCormack said Gocup Road will likely remain in doubt until after the September federal election, after the sacking of minister for regional Australia Simon Crean.
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Mr McCormack said he had written to Mr Crean's successor, Anthony Albanese, who is yet to respond to the member about the status of his previous talks with Mr Crean.
"The Gocup Road will cost at least $11 to $12 million for a partial fix," Mr McCormack said.
"Which is an amount I doubt Labor will be prepared to commit to as it bunkers down to examine the parlous state of the books before the election."
Mr McCormack said despite the road being "one of those projects caught up in the leadership spill", it was definitely a project which would not go on the backburner.
There is currently an application in place for Tumut to receive a $5 million federal government grant for the road, with the government announcing successful projects in July.
Tumut mayor Trina Thomson said regular users of the road were hoping the project secured part-funding in July to ensure it created more pressure for officials to act.
"It would certainly mean the project got moved along," she said.
Ms Thompson said people needed to stop and think about the issues of the Gocup Road, which included deteriorating sections and no mobile reception.
"The dialogue needs to be focused on how we can best address elements of the upgrade," Mrs Thomson said.
"This is a road that is valuable to industry and tourism."
Long Distance Owner Drivers' Association president Bunny Brown said the road was the number-one issue for truckers in the area.
"The holes need to be fixed," Mr Brown said.
"It's steep and very dangerous."