Literally - it appears the swampland east of Nowra the road was planned to traverse, joining the Princes Highway to Greenwell Point Road, is unsuitable, with Shoalhaven City Council appearing to withdraw from the project.

Welcoming the announcement of $519 million in funding in the federal budget for local infrastructure projects including the Princes Highway upgrade from Jervis Bay Road to Sussex Inlet Road, the Jervis Bay Road Intersection upgrade and Far North Collector Road Network, Shoalhaven Business Chamber president Jemma Tribe has revealed council has "taken ENSA off the table".

Ms Tribe said in discussions with the business chamber council had indicated geotechnical testing had revealed the area unsuitable and the project was likely to be more expensive than expected.

"We were told ENSA is now off the table," she said.

"We [the business chamber] met with council to see what the hold up was with ENSA, and learnt the project is going to be more expensive than council could afford.

"Apparently council has been undertaking geotechnical testing and been digging and have not even found a rock footing.

"It will require further surveys and works which would be high cost.

"The project had only ever been a guesstimate and apparently has the potential to double in price."

She said it appears the plan is not as effective as once thought and council was unable to go ahead and have essentially abandoned the project.

ENSA was designed to alleviate the pressure off the Kalandar Street/Princes Highway intersection, to take traffic off the Princes Highway behind Stockland Nowra, across the floodplain to rejoin Greenwell Point Road, providing easier access for traffic travelling to the eastern villages.

It has been widely acknowledged ENSA would play a vital role in any improvements to the Nowra road networks, especially the replacement of the Shoalhaven River bridge and any of the associated intersection upgrades.

But it was never going to be cheap - estimates ranged anywhere from $25 million up to $45 million.

But constructing the proposed road on a floodplain was always going to be an issue - an area that when it rains heavily does flood, which created a number of construction dilemmas.

Just how the road would or could be constructed - would it be a network of connecting bridges or a built up road on a swamp area susceptible to sinkage.

Problems with flooding and building the road above flood level, which could possibly block floodwaters and create a dam-like area were all being considered.

Ms Tribe said instead now, council is advocating for the triplication of the highway in the meantime to see three lanes in both directions all the way through Nowra.

"They [council] are now lobbying for triplication of the highway instead and an overpass [flyover] at Kalandar Street, to alleviate the bottleneck at that intersection."

She said the business chamber would also continue to push for the federal government to recognise a western bypass of Nowra.

"Certainly a bypass will need to happen at some point in the future," she said.

"We need to certainly plan for it and have it recognised by federal government. At the moment it's not.

"The reality is, it will still be some years away."

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