Norfolk's flagship infrastructure project - the £251m Norwich Western Link road - has been thrown into significant doubt, after County Hall announced an indefinite delay to a key part of the process.
The county council's cabinet has paused plans to lodge a planning application for the road, amid mounting concerns at the authority over the government's willingness to bankroll the project.
The 3.9 mile road is designed to link the A47 with the NDR to the west of the city and has been hailed as a council priority for several years.
The Conservative-controlled county cabinet was due to meet next month to agree to submit the planning application.
But Graham Plant, cabinet member for highways, infrastructure and transport, announced the decision will no longer be taken at the meeting.
The authority has not said when the decision will be made, but insists it remains committed to the project.
However, the delay has raised serious questions over whether it will ever be built.
Critics of the project say it will add even more to the growing price tag of the road, and have reiterated calls for it to be scrapped.
Norfolk County Council does not have the resources to fund the route itself and its business case involves the Department for Transport (DfT) providing 85pc of the cost - some £213.4m.
The failure of the DfT to approve the case has led to County Hall pausing the process, with the possibility that ministers and Whitehall officials are not convinced by the arguments for the road.
It comes at a time of mounting concern over a lack of government investment in transport infrastructure in the region.
Earlier this week, a delegation of local MPs and council leaders raised such concerns at a summit in Westminster.
Mr Plant said he remained committed to getting the Western Link built, but that the uncertainty meant the decision to submit an application to County Hall's own planning committee needed to be put on hold.
He said: "We want to make sure we have enough information and certainty around the national investment in the project, via approval of the project’s outline business case to make an informed decision.
"We’ve therefore decided to wait to bring a report to cabinet until we have all the information we feel we need to make this decision.
"I understand many people are keen for us to get on and deliver the Norwich Western Link, especially those residents and businesses worst affected by the traffic problems to the west of Norwich.
"However, it’s important that we get this right and waiting to bring this report to cabinet really is the most responsible course of action."
However, Steve Morphew, leader of the opposition Labour group, which wants the scheme scrapped, said delays will add "increased costs, bigger risks and greater uncertainty" to a project with a price tag that has already risen from an initial £153m to £251m.
He said councillors were previously told, when inflation was lower, that each month of delay added around £250,000 to the scheme's cost - nearly £3m a year.
Green county councillor Jamie Osborn said: "The Norwich Western Link has been risky and reckless from the very start. It is not surprising that the county council are now facing uncertainty and even more delays.
"What is shocking, though, is the fact that the Conservatives continue to waste millions of pounds on a road that may never get built, while many parts of the county lack decent public transport."
More than 2,000 people had their say in consultation over the road last year - the public's final chance to express their views before the submission of a planning application.
Norfolk County Council has long maintained there is "an overwhelming case" for a scheme they say would boost the county's economy, cut congestion and reduce rat-running.
Supporters include the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, Norwich Airport, Norfolk Fire and Rescue, the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, Road Haulage Association, First buses, most of the county's MPs and a number of district councils.
But opponents include Norfolk Wildlife Trust, the Norfolk Rivers Trust, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Green and Labour groups at County Hall, the Stop the Wensum Link group and Extinction Rebellion.
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