Crews working to repair State Highway 1 north of Kaikoura have access to the entire area for the first time since November's earthquake after cleaning up a major slip.
"Yesterday teams working from the north and south of the significant slip at Ohau Point met up," Transport Minister Simon Bridges said on Tuesday.
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"Construction crews now have access to the entire stretch of the coastal corridor north of Kaikoura which will greatly speed up the reinstatement of this important route."
Workers were now establishing a construction track around Ohau Point - famed for its seal colony - to allow for the section of the major highway to be reconstructed.
"Crews have now cleared seven of the nine major slips that buried parts of State Highway 1 and the rail line north of Kaikoura in the November 2016 earthquake," Mr Bridge's said.
He said the government was still aiming to have transport links to Kaikoura restored by the end of the year.
The coastal highway and the rail line have been closed since November, when the magnitude 7.8 earthquake brought down huge slips across them.
Earlier this month, repairs on the railway line between Christchurch and Picton - also damaged in the quake - was completed.
Work on the twisted tracks, about 60 broken bridges, damaged tunnels and more than 100 slips has proceeded proceeded quicker than anticipated, with expectations the line might be ready to go by Christmas.
