A FAILURE to fully cost the upgrade of Bartletts Rd has resulted in the projected being halved by Council.

Tweed Shire Council announced on Wednesday they would only be sealing 1km of the road, rather than the 2km previously promised.

The project is being funded through a $750,000 grant by the Federal Government, but Council manager for roads and stormwater, Danny Rose, said council underestimated the cost of the original job.

He said the first reason for the scale back was due to power poles.

"Sealing the roadway will mean that vehicles will be more capable of travelling up to the current 100km/h speed limit,” he said.

"Leaving the existing power poles so close to the edge of the seal does not meet modern safety standards and this hazard needs to be addressed.

"Council has decided to relocate all the power poles along the entire two-kilometre section so this task does not need to be revisited in the event we secure additional funds to extend the seal in the future.”

The second issue Council says it failed to fully account for was their inability to "build-up” on the roads current level.

"Normally for a job like this we would add a new gravel layer to the existing base and then seal over the top,” he said.

"However at Bartletts Rd, it's critical for our canefarmers that the road is not raised, meaning that we need to excavate out the old road pavement and then rebuild the road formation for the new sealed section.

"The cane industry is important for the economic prosperity of the Tweed and Council has an obligation to work with canegrowers around roads and other infrastructure that affects their operations.”

The section of road to now be sealed runs from the end of the current seal to Saunders Ln.

Roadwork and any detour signage will be posted ahead of construction starting in April and will be completed by July.