Roads and Maritime Services have conducted almost 50 meetings with residents over the Berry bypass since 2009.
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On top of the 47 stakeholder meetings, RMS also held six information sessions, 22 working groups or workshops, seven community review meetings and more than 300 interviews with property owners.
These figures do not include the meetings held between 2006 and 2009, when the upgrade of the Princes Highway from Gerringong to Bomaderry was split into three.
"RMS has worked extremely hard to involve the community in the planning process for the bypass and has been in constant contact with the Berry community since the inception of the Gerringong-to-Bomaderry upgrade in 2006," a spokeswoman said.
"Consultation for the project included gaining community input into preferred route options for the upgrade.
"RMS is committed to providing robust and transparent engagement with the community. The project team will continue to keep the community informed about the project, as it moves through the final stages of planning approval to detailed design and construction."
A corridor along the route of the northern option was established in the 1960s and, by 2006 the-then RTA had bought 75 per cent of the land along the corridor.
That northern route was also less expensive to build than the suggested southern option. Last year, RMS carried out a review of the southern option and concluded that it would cost $166 million more to construct.
The spokeswoman said the preferred option would not "isolate residents" but rather "recognises the importance of connectivity".
It did this by ensuring Kangaroo Valley Road crossed the bypass at the same level as the existing road and creating interchanges allowing vehicular and pedestrian traffic to reach the town centre.
The spokeswoman claimed the bypass would "improve the amenity of the town", increase pedestrian safety and reduce the number of crashes on this section of the Princes Highway.
She said RMS was now compiling a report of the 216 community submissions received on the environmental assessment. The report would be made available to the public this year.
"The submissions report will be considered by the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, before his decision on the project," she said. "If approved, the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure will provide a set of approval conditions to RMS. These conditions will guide the detailed design and construction of the project."
