Motorists are finding Nowra increasingly choked with traffic. It seems as soon as one bottleneck is cleared, another is created.

The improvements to the highway north of Nowra got rid of the Berry car park and the slow conga line of cars through the Broughton bends and Foxground. In the not-too-distant future, the bottleneck at Albion Park Rail will be addressed as will the final stage of the highway upgrade between Berry and Bomaderry. Add to that the new Nowra Bridge, which has now got the funds it needs to progress. 

With the upgrades will come traffic, which at holiday time is already horrendous. 

The fear is another set of traffic lights in Nowra will slow what is already a crawl through town on a stretch of highway that was Nowra’s original bypass. 

These fears were raised by Shoalhaven Business Chamber roads and transport spokesman Tony Emery some weeks ago. He flagged the likelihood the Princes Highway through Nowra would end up with nine sets of lights.

This, he said, made work on the East Nowra Sub Arterial (ENSA) pressingly urgent. While, ultimately, a complete bypass of Nowra will be needed, in the short to medium term, ENSA has the potential to ease congestion through Nowra by diverting traffic destined for the beachside towns and villages and well as some parts of Worrigee. It is aimed to ease some of the congestion that backs up at Kalandar Street.

From council’s perspective, better access between Stockland and the CBD is needed to as part of its strategy to revitalise the town centre. There is also a safety dimension to the decision, with pedestrians routinely dashing across six lanes of traffic. 

The Jane Street overpass south of Junction Street, Worrigee Street to the south and the Moss Street intersection to the north might offer safe crossing points but pedestrian behaviour indicates they are not popular.

It should be remembered that, like the pedestrian lights at South Nowra, they will only turn red when activated. However, they will probably turn red more frequently than South Nowra because CBD workers use the overflow parking.

The time to get on with ENSA and start preliminary bypass work is upon us.