But Roads and Maritime Services declined to say whether it has noticed any increase in congestion along the Princes Highway and M1 motorway.

Nor will it even say whether it is monitoring the traffic for signs of increased congestion.

Earlier this year, Roads and Maritime Services cut the speed limit immediately north of the Illawarra Highway intersection from 80km/h down to 60km/h.

Since then motorists living in the southern suburbs have been telling the Mercury - both in person and via social media - that the trip between work and home is now worse than before.

Some have even opted to dodge Albion Park Rail altogether and travel along Lake Entrance Road and through Warrawong - which has apparently led to that section of road becoming more congested as well.

The Mercury asked Roads and Maritime Services whether it was aware of any increase in congestion along either of these routes since the construction of the Albion Park Rail bypass began.

A spokeswoman for Roads and Maritime Services declined to respond to those questions.

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"Considerable effort is being taken to reduce the impact to motorists in Albion Park and Albion Park Rail during work, including carrying out night work when substantial lane closures are required," the spokeswoman said.

It was also unclear whether the reduced 60km/h speed limit that appears to have caused the delays will remain in place until the end of the project.

The Roads and Maritime Services spokeswoman said other measures had been introduced to avoid the need to further drop the speed limit.

"There are currently concrete traffic barriers in place to protect workers from live traffic on the motorway," the spokeswoman said.

"Without these barriers further speed reductions may have been required any time there were workers in this area."