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

Nearly 200 kilometres of damaged road, 220 work sites and 190km of munted rail line. And it only took 2 million work hours.

Is it any wonder the rebuild along the Kaikōura coast is up for civil engineering's "prize of prizes"?

​The $1.1 billion dollar rebuild is the only Southern Hemisphere finalist in the Institution of Civil Engineers People's Choice Award, going up against major projects from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, India and Nepal.

Engineering New Zealand chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene said becoming a finalist was a testament to the project's engineering scale, ingenuity and uniqueness.

"As engineers surveyed the damage from the air above Kaikōura, in the dawn light on Monday, November 16, the impact on the transport corridor was immediately obvious – and mind-blowing," Freeman-Greene said.

"The devastation left experienced contractors speechless. The [North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery] alliance partners ... pulled off a project that would normally take years, in a matter of months.

"And not only did everyone involved in the broader rebuild deliver the physical work, they worked hard to keep the community informed every step of the way."

SUPPLIED Engineering New Zealand chief executive Susan Freeman-Greene says becoming a finalist is testament to the "engineering scale, ingenuity and uniqueness" of the Kaikōura rebuild.

KiwiRail acting chief executive Todd Moyle agreed, saying the nomination demonstrated New Zealand's "strengths in engineering and emergency recovery".

"Just as important, however, is the well-deserved recognition of the hard work and dedication of thousands of workers whose efforts meant cut-off communities were reconnected ... after that devastating earthquake," Moyle said.

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.

STUFF Debris from the earthquake blocked train tracks.

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.

The rebuild was done by 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).

SUPPLIED Kaikōura District Council chief executive Angela Oosthuizen says it is wonderful to see those who have worked on reconnecting Kaikōura recognised through the nomination.

State Highway 1 reopened on December 15, 2017 after more than a year of repairs and has closed several times since due to weather conditions and ongoing rebuild work.

Kaikōura District Council chief executive Angela Oosthuizen said she had heard anecdotally that the Kaikōura project achieved in less than two years what would normally take 10 years.

"Even if that's not exact, it gives people who haven't seen it first-hand some idea of what has been achieved here," Oosthuizen said.

Abseil Access About 1700 people from around the world worked more than 2m hours to move mountains and rebuild the road and railway.

"Other finalists will have had the luxury of being able to plan, design, consult and build using standard practice, [but] the Kaikōura rebuild was a very different project.

"The team was set a huge challenge of opening the road by Christmas 2017, just 13 months after New Zealand's second biggest earthquake ever ... When the project wraps up I'm sure it'll take everyone here a while to get used to not seeing a sea of orange hi-vis all the time."

NZTA earthquake recovery manager Colin Knaggs said what set the Kaikōura project apart from other finalists for the People's Choice Award was the nature of the work.

"We didn't have the luxury of time for planning in the usual sense," Knaggs said.

STUFF About 194 kilometres of road was damaged by the November 2016 earthquake

"Design and construction happened almost simultaneously as we had to reopen the transport networks as soon as possible, rebuilding quickly but with great care in an area of great cultural and environmental importance."

Susan Freeman-Greene said everyone deserved "kudos" for pulling the project together.

"It shows the power of engineering to connect and reconnect communities, in innovative ways and on an almost unimaginable scale."

RICKY WILSON/STUFF State Highway 1 reopened in December 2017 after more than a year of repairs.

The winner of the People's Choice Award would be announced after voting closed on September 28.

Freeman-Greene urged New Zealanders to cast a vote for the prestigious award.

"We would be delighted [if it won]," Freeman-Greene said. "It's up against some tough competition, so every vote will count."

Moyle said there had already been an "enormous amount of support" rolling in from across the freight industry and engineering professionals.

"However, we are a small country compared to other finalists, so the more support we can get from the public the better our chances," Moyle said.

THE COMPETITION:

Hong Kong:

SUPPLIED Hong Kong's Harbour Area Treatment Scheme's main pumping station.

Topping the People's Choice Award price list was Hong Kong's $4.6 billion restoration of Victoria Harbour's water quality, following decades of fast development in the region.

The region undertook its largest environmental infrastructure project in its history by installing a Harbour Area Treatment Scheme to collect and treat sewerage from the harbour.

Since its installation, Hong Kong's annual cross-harbour swimming race was reopened after 40 years of suspension.

Queensferry, UK:

SUPPLIED The new Queensferry Crossing bridge will help meet traffic demands.

The $2.7b Queensferry Crossing bridge over the Firth of Forth, near Edinburgh, Scotland, achieved multiple milestones, including the world's longest three tower, cable-stayed bridge and the bridge with the tallest towers in the UK.

The bridge was built as a replacement for the Forth Road Bridge after problems in its main cables meant the Forth Road Bridge could not continue to provide the levels of service needed to support traffic.

Repair works to the Forth Road Bridge won Scotland the first People's Choice Award in 2016.

Torcross, UK:

SUPPLIED Construction on Torcross's sea wall was affected by short tidal windows.

Repairs made to the existing sea defence in Torcross, Devon, England, cost $4.8m. The coastal community's failing defence wall was fixed over a 14-month period, from November 2016 to March 2017, despite somes works being affected by tidal windows.

St Ives, UK:

SUPPLIED The demolition of the collapsed Tadcaster Bridge, in England.

The $40m extension of Tate St Ives saw the gallery gain twice as much room for displays and new studios for learning activities.

The extension was no stranger to awards, with its transformative design helping Tate St Ives win Art Fund's Museum of the Year Award earlier this year. It was expected to inject an additional $173m into the St Ives and Cornwall economies over the next decade.

Tadcaster, UK:

SUPPLIED The new Tate St Ives gallery blending in with the landscape.

The $10m rebuild of the collapsed Tadcaster Bridge, in England also reunited a community split in two. Both Tadcaster Bridge's 16th centaury arches and 1780s upstream pier failed during the December 2015 flood, devastating the town's only river crossing.

Residents were forced to make a nine-mile detour during the 13-month rebuild of the bridge to reach services on the other side of the River Wharfe.

Hyderabad, India:

Also up for the award was a new three corridor rail network in Hyderabad, India, which would reduce congestion around the region by connecting multiple train services and bus depots.

The Metro Rail Network would cover a distance of 72 kilometres and boast high-tech, environment-friendly stations.

Blyth, UK:

The Blyth Offshore Demonstrator Wind Farm project built five wind turbine generators off the Northumberland coast, in water about 40 metres deep.

The turbines were installed using a brand new "float and submerge" method, which saw concrete gravity base foundations floated out to sea, submerged and then filled with sand, so turbines could be placed on it. The gravity base foundations were expected to kick-start more cost effective renewable energy solutions across the globe. Glasgow, UK: The $200m wastewater tunnel in Glasgow saw 5km of tunnelling installed under the city. It came after a month's rain fell on Glasgow in one afternoon in June, 2002, leaving its south side under several feet of water and flooding the sewer network. Nepal: The $94.5m construction of 100km of road in Nepal, and the maintenance of a further 2000km, was also nominated for the award. The project connected remote communities to markets, healthcare and education facilities. It also employed 9000 people in poverty, 40 per cent of which were women, in road construction and maintenance. * Comments on this story are closed

SUPPLIED Round the clock slip-forming was needed to construct the external and internal walls of the gravity base foundations for Blyth's wind farm project.

SUPPLIED The view from the main entrance of the wastewater tunnel in Glasgow.