A major road resurfacing project in East Sussex is in the running for a prestigious award.

The East Sussex County Council scheme to resurface the A22 Hailsham bypass is one of 10 projects in the county shortlisted for the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) South East England Engineering Excellence Awards.

The £3.3 million project, the largest resurfacing scheme in the county for almost 20 years, was completed in three stages over an eight week period, reopening on schedule in time for Easter 2013.

The project saw crews resurface 67,640 sq m of road – an area equivalent to nine football pitches – as well as carrying out hedge-trimming, line marking, drainage maintenance, barrier repairs and kerb removal.

Meanwhile, aqua seeding – a process where grass seed is sprayed using high-pressure pumps – was also used to reinstate grass verges.

Karl Taylor, assistant director of operations at the county council, said: “This section of road is used by 17,000 vehicles a day, which means a lot of wear and tear, so the work we carried out was essential in ensuring this key route is kept in a good condition for years to come.

“It’s great to be shortlisted for this award, which is testament to the efforts of the team who worked so hard to ensure the project was completed on time despite the bad weather we experienced earlier in the year.”

John Laverty, director of ICE South East England, said: “Having the right infrastructure is a key factor to generating economic success. Publicly rewarding the people, organisations and businesses which deliver that infrastructure is important because of the benefits such civil engineering projects bring to the community.

“Judges are now examining each of the shortlisted entries in detail and will be making their decisions on which projects demonstrate the most impact on people’s lives and which demonstrate the most significant engineering achievements.”

The winners will be announced at the ICE Kent and East Sussex awards ceremony, to be held on Friday 7 June 2013.