NSW Roads and Maritime has delivered an early Christmas present to Canberrans heading to the coast for their holidays.
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It has called off roadworks along the highway for almost a month over Christmas.
It comes as Palerang Council mayor Pete Harrison called on Canberrans undertaking the 137-kilometre trip to the coast to take an extra seven minutes to drive between Braidwood and Canberra.
Research done in recent years found driving 100km/hr between Braidwood and the national capital only saved drivers seven minutes compared to driving the entire leg of the journey at 80km/hr.
"And you'll live a lot more than seven minutes longer if you take that extra time," he said.
He said the Kings Highway was "in reality not a shocking road" and had ample vision.
"If every one of the roads in my shire was as good as the Kings Highway I'd be a very happy man," he said.
But he called on Canberra drivers holidaying to mostly forget about overtaking on the Kings Highway.
Mr Harrison, whose shire takes in Braidwood and Bungendore, said drivers needed to drive with a special Kings Highway frame of mind.
"You just have to put your head in a different space [before doing the trip]," Mr Harrison said.
"In general it's a good country road, it's a good width, but it does not have a lot of overtaking opportunities.
"If I start the trip saying I'm not going to overtake I drive very differently."
Mr Harrison, from Wamboin, said locals such as himself could probably overtake more often and efficiently because they knew where the opportunities to pass other cars were located.
The potentially dangerous alternative to this was driving too close to the back of another car waiting for the next opportunity to overtake.
"People have to decide 'I'm not going to be speeding to the coast'," he said.
A Roads and Maritime spokesperson said all work on the highway would stop for the Christmas and New Year holiday period with all lanes opened and speed limits returning to normal.
Works on the River Forest Road to Mongarlowe River section and at East Nelligen will stop between December 18 and January 11.
Work at Misty Mountain will stop between December 11 and January 18.
A Roads and Maritime map shows the amount of work that has been done on the highway in the past two years.
This included removal of roadside hazards, road resurfacing and guardrail installation along a six kilometre stretch on the Clyde Mountain stretch of the road.
There has also been shoulder widening, pavement improvements and an overtaking lane extension at Doughboy and an eastbound overtaking lane added along with shoulder widening and removal of roadside hazards east of the Shoalhaven River.
