Palmerston North mayor Grant Smith and Tararua mayor Tracey Collis will join a group that will help decide the route through the gorge.
Tararua District mayor Tracey Collis is joining a governance group which will be part of the decision-making for long-term solutions for the Manawatu Gorge.
Along with other regional mayors, Mrs Collis said these will be important discussions for all in the district.
A second workshop group will study the business case for alternate routes and Tararua District deputy mayor Allen Benbow has been appointed a member of this group.
"With quite a few engineers on this technical group we thought it wasn't the best option for us to nominate another one," Tararua District Council's chief executive and engineer Blair King said.
"Allen has the business experience."
Councillor Shirley Hull had nominated councillor Peter Johns for the business case group, but he declined.
"I'm all for the hybrid (partial) tunnel proposed by Allen and he will be the man to push that," he said.
However, Mr Benbow said he had to be absolutely objective when it came to making decisions on the best option for our community and nationally.
Mr King said the request had come from the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) to put forward names of people for the two groups.
"Really, the NZTA react to political input and the deputy mayor is the best man for the job," he said.
"This will give him an insight into how NZTA work, which could be especially important when we're dealing with a business case for Route 52.
"It's better for council to be included (in these discussions) and it's better to have a senior politician like Allen."
Ross I'Anson, the regional transport manager for NZTA, said development of a detailed business case would involve assessing the costs, benefits and viability of constructing each of the options, including the impact each option will have on the environment in the Tararua and Ruahine ranges.
"In the coming weeks a long list of options will be announced, along with details of public open days and other opportunities for people to provide feedback to help identify a preferred option for development," he said.
NZTA will identify a preferred option in December this year.