The North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery alliance gives Kaikōura residents a chance to see SH1 between Mangamaunu and Rakautara.

"More than just a reopening."

The road and rail rebuild along the Kaikōura coast has taken out civil engineering's "prize of prizes" after a surge of votes from the New Zealand public.

The "project of a lifetime", which took 2 million work hours to complete, was crowned winner of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) 2018 People's Choice Award in London on Tuesday night [UK time].

The $1.1 billion dollar project was the only Southern Hemisphere finalist in the contest, and trumped major projects from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, India and Nepal.

Stakeholder Engagement Manager Mike Seabourne The North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery alliance gives Kaikōura residents a chance to see SH1 between Mangamaunu and Rakautara.

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ICE director of membership Sean Harris, who headed the competition, said the Kaikōura earthquake recovery project was a "worthy winner".

"I am pleased to see the public recognise how the project directly transformed people's quality of life," Harris said.

"More than just a reopening of road and rail systems, the project reconnected families and friends, and allowed businesses to welcome back tourism.

"The project stands out globally as not only one of the finest examples of outstanding technical achievement, but also highlights the importance of civil engineering in enabling social and economic progress."

The annual People's Choice Award contest recognised civil engineering projects that made a positive impact on their local communities, with the final winner decided by votes from the global public.

Previously only open to projects in the United Kingdom, this year's contest included international projects for the first time to mark ICE's 200th anniversary.

NCTIR/SUPPLIED Ōhau Point's safe stopping area reopened last month almost two years after the Kaikōura earthquake knocked more than 100,000 cubic metres of debris over the hillside.

About 70,000 people voted around the world for their favourite civil engineering project, with the Kaikōura earthquake rebuild triumphing over its competitors by a total of 8 per cent.

The winning project was announced by ICE's incoming president Andrew Wyllie at his inaugural President's Address speech on Tuesday night [UK time] at the company's London Headquarters.

KiwiRail acting chief executive Todd Moyle said the organisation was "very thankful" for everyone who voted for the project.

"This is well deserved recognition of the hard work, dedication and determination of the thousands of people who so quickly rebuilt the rail line and roads, reconnecting communities and restoring critical New Zealand freight networks," he said.

SUPPLIED The 2016 Kaikōura earthquake destroyed road and rail along the South Island's east coast.

About 1700 people worked 2 million hours to move mountains of slip material and repair the quake-damaged route along the Kaikōura coast after the 7.8-magnitude quake.

The catastrophe caused damage to 194 kilometres of road and 150km of rail around Kaikōura, with large sections of the rail line pushed into the sea.

Problems were exacerbated when wild weather, including ex-cyclone Gita, lashed the region leaving it drenched and damaged with further debris sprawled onto already cleared sections of road.

KIWIRAIL/SUPPLIED Daytime freight trains started up last month, two years after train journeys between Picton and Christchurch came to a halt.

The rebuild was done by North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR), comprising the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail and several contractors.

Motorists travelling between Picton and Christchurch were forced to use the challenging alternative route over the Lewis Pass (SH7).

The rail line was open to freight trains just 10 months after tracks had been thrown into the sea and the Kaikōura Harbour was back in operation exactly a year after the earthquake.

SUPPLIED ICE director of membership Sean Harris says the Kaikōura earthquake recovery project is a "worthy winner".

State Highway 1 reopened on December 15, 2017 after one year, one month and one day's worth of repairs, and had closed several times since due to weather conditions and ongoing rebuild work.

NCTIR project director Brian Kirtlan said the award was "due recognition" of the pride many New Zealanders felt when the transport networks were reconnected just a year after the devastation.

"For many of our people, this will be their project of a lifetime, [a] tough but extremely rewarding [project] to deliver solutions to help the affected communities," Kirtlan.

NCTIR/SUPPLIED Ōhau Point was considered one of the most damaged parts of State Highway 1.

NZTA regional director and NCTIR board chair Steve Mutton said the project was a collective effort that resulted in "engineering excellence", and "every crew member should feel proud of themselves".

"The team worked hard, under extremely difficult conditions, to rebuild and create a safe highway and rail line to reconnect Kaikōura and critical South Island transport links," Mutton said.

He said the project also benefited the wider surrounding communities at the time who were also still recovering from the effects of the earthquake.

"Hundreds of workers spent months living away from their families to reconnect State Highway 1 and get the rail line up and running," he said.

"They faced a lot of adversity: pouring foundations on the sea coast around the tides through winter, abseiling teams removing boulders from precipitous cliff faces, and a small army of helicopter pilots with monsoon buckets drenching the cliffs to bring material down in the first few months.

"It was a civil engineering triumph to get the transport networks reopened by last Christmas. This award is recognition of all that effort."

A ICE spokeswoman said the team were unsure which projects had come in second and third place, as the competition was only to find an overall winner.

RICKY WILSON/STUFF NCTIR project manager Clark Butcher explains the Ohau Point seawall.

SUPPLIED About 150 kilometres of track was damaged by the November 2016 earthquake.

RICKY WILSON/STUFF It took about 2 million work hours to rebuild the road and railway, including between Clarence and Kaikōura.

DEREK FLYNN/STUFF Debris from the earthquake blocked train tracks.