The only road access to Milford Sound is expected to reopen by noon tomorrow, but chains must be carried as a precaution and no towing is allowed, the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) says.
The highway from the Hollyford turn-off to Milford Sound was closed by heavy snow on Friday last week and for much of this week nearly half of the 120km alpine road was closed by snow.
However, the 30km section of the highway from Knobbs Flat to the Hollyford turn-off reopened to traffic on Thursday afternoon.
More than 1m of snow was cleared from the highway between the Hollyford turn-off and Homer Tunnel.
NZTA Southland assets manager Peter Robinson said yesterday contractors using explosives released two avalanches on to the highway, at Bake House and Raspberry, as part of the agency's clearance operation.
It was expected to take until noon tomorrow to remove the avalanche snow, despite hopes the road to the cut-off Milford Village would be open by today.
Fine weather was forecast to Wednesday, he said.
The agency's Milford Avalanche Programme had been monitoring risk levels since the road closed a week ago, with several avalanches over the period, although none had damaged the road.
A convoy of 10 vehicles made it out from Milford Sound on Thursday afternoon.
All tourists in Milford when the road closed a week ago had left in an earlier convoy, Mr Robinson said.
The remaining people at Milford Sound were prepared to sit tight until the road reopened.
