This is because of the four stages of the proposed route, the Waterfall-Loftus section is the least congested said Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra Gareth Ward.

On Tuesday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday announced the start of the much-talked about F6 extension – a four-kilometre tunnel from Arncliffe to Kogarah – and referred to stages one, two and three.

On the same day, Roads and Maritime Services announced it was calling a halt to investigations on the fourth stage of the route.

All of which raised the question of the status of the 10-kilometre Loftus to Waterfall section.

“I don’t think that there is an answer at this point because there are a lot of road projects around the state state we have to deal with,” Mr Ward said.

“We have to prioritise and in the short-to-medium term the priorities are the sections that the Premier’s outlined. And that’s appropriate.

“By the time we get to the Waterfall section many, many years into the future, who knows what would have changed in terms of traffic movement and environmental impacts. They need to be assessed when we’re ready to construct.”

Mr Ward said traffic along the southern end of the route just wasn’t heavy enough to warrant more immediate attention.

“We need to deal with the most congested sections first and at this point the Waterfall section is not congested,” Mr Ward said.

“Will it be dealt with in the future? Well I’ll be making sure that we always get the funds and resources we need and I’ll be fighting hard to make sure that we do.”