A major freight road in the Upper Hunter region of New South Wales may not reopen for more than three years, as engineers work out how to prevent further landslips on the mountain pass.

Coulson's Creek Road, also known as the Merriwa to Willow Tree Road, connects the town of Merriwa with the New England region over a mountain range.

A failed attempt to upgrade the road forced its closure early last year to heavy vehicles, then to all vehicles in January, adding over an hour of travel time to some trips.

An at-times fiery community meeting was held in Merriwa, as the Upper Hunter Shire Council attempted to address growing community anger.

Geotechnical engineers told the meeting that draft construction documents would be completed in about six months.

The main concern for engineers is an increasing number of "tension cracks" that have spread across the road, raising fears of landslips.

"The geotech engineers have found at least nine locations where there's significant slips of material on the downhill side," said Greg McDonald, general manager of the council.

"They are areas that they're saying are high risk and that's the reason the road's closed.

Engineers are assessing whether one lane of the road can reopen while a more permanent solution is under construction.

Road closure takes toll on residents

During the meeting, a number of community members voiced their anger about the situation.

"We're 12 months down the road from when it happened and we're just starting to get the wheels turning," said farmer Chris Kemp.

"This should have happened nine months ago.

Mr McDonald said he, and mayor Maurice Collison, were working to rebuild community confidence in the council.

Cassandra McLaren said the closure was taking a toll on her family on many levels.

"It's [preventing] access to an area that is a big part of our lives for our farming businesses," she said.

"It's movement of stock, it's purchasing, it's all of that, and that has a direct impact on our financial bottom line.

"It's also the personal [toll]. It's access to medical, it's also access to social and to families and communities that we [would] normally connect with that we can no longer connect with."

Livestock producer Robert Goodier told the meeting it cost him an extra $10,000 a year to take cattle to Tamworth via the alternate route.

Pressure is now intensifying on the council to expedite repair work on the Bunnan Road to Scone, which is taking increased traffic due to the closure.

Mr Goodier said he tried to avoid travelling on Bunnan Road due to its condition.