Transportation officials expect the Seward Highway to re-open at about 2 p.m. today - roughly 24 hours after an avalanche blocked traffic in both directions at Mile 21.

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The closure has stranded motorists in Seward and blocked access to the city. The highway was blocked south of Crown Point and north of the Snow River Crossing - about 17 miles south of the Sterling and Seward Highway junction, said Transportation Department spokesman Roger Wetherell.

Crews today are clearing the highway with bulldozers and loaders, he said. The state used artillery to loosen hazardous snow and prevent more avalanches in the area this morning.

Meantime, Chugach Electric Association reports that power has been restored to nearly all of the hundreds of customers who lost electricity Friday as a snowstorm blew across Southcentral Alaska.

In Hope, power returned at about 2 a.m., said spokeswoman Patti Bogan. A crew planned to restore electricity in Whittier early this morning. Read The Village, the ADN's blog about rural Alaska, at adn.com/thevillage. Twitter updates: twitter.com/adnvillage. Call Kyle Hopkins at 257-4334.

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