State Member for Kiama, Gareth Ward, said public pressure was behind Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's guarantee that the Jervis Bay Road flyover would proceed.
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Mr Ward hailed the promise as "a big win for the community and motorists".
But he said the upgrade to the Jervis Bay Road intersection with the Princes Highway was under threat of being sidelined by the federal government's infrastructure review "until doubts over the project were made public and the community applied pressure to the Federal MP".
And with Mr Albanese guaranteeing the work would proceed, "This win comes solely down to the advocacy and unrelenting dedication of our community," Mr Ward said.
He called on the government to ensure there were no more delays to the work, which would "reduce congestion and make travelling on the Princes Highway safer for the thousands of motorists.
Shoalhaven Council's deputy mayor Paul Ell agreed concerns raised in the community about the intersection's upgrade played a role in the Prime Minister's guarantee.
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But he questioned whether Mr Albanese was circumventing the infrastructure audit process.
"If you think this panel is qualified to give advice on whether or not these projects should proceed, why are you prejudicing their findings?" Cr Ell asked.
He also questioned why a project that Labor had committed to before winning office could end up as part of the audit, considering work was already underway.
"You'd think they would have undertaken their due diligence and checked out its viability beforehand," Cr Ell said.
Meanwhile the focus has now shifted to the rest of the Princes Highway between Nowra and the Victorian border.
"A new funding arrangement for the Princes Highway is required that sees federal government and state government commit to an ongoing funding formula so that future upgrades to the Princes Highway are beyond politics and the clutches of bureaucrats in Sydney or Canberra," Mr Ward said.
