Here we go again, Homewood: more Jersey walls, more fencing, another construction site.

This time they'll be digging up the roads outside Levering Hall, first to the east of the building (between Levering and Barton) and then to the south (between Levering and Garland).

The reason for this three-month project: the need to extend the university's existing chilled water, natural gas and steam lines to Clark Hall, the building going up southwest of Garland Hall for the Whitaker Biomedical Engineering Institute.

Getting utilities into Clark involves digging a 14-foot-wide trench and installing pipe and three underground vaults for control valves. The trench will start from the plaza in front of Levering Hall. From there, it will move south in the existing roadbed toward Garland Hall, turn west along the north side of Garland and then turn south again, along what used to be Bowman Drive, onto the Clark Hall construction site.

Only one of those three southerly or westerly segments will be dug up at any one time, allowing the university to provide manageable detours for anyone who wants to walk from, say, the north door of Garland to the doughnut rack in Levering Market.

The trench work won't begin until late this month, following construction of the vaults. That starts this week with installation of Jersey barriers and fences to mark off the area--east of Levering--where the first vault goes. Workers will also block off the areas where construction material and excavated dirt will be stored. By the end of the week, the first pedestrian detours may be in place. Digging should start the week of Nov. 13.

Though exact dates are still to be determined, it is clear that

For about three weeks, the road between Garland and Levering will occasionally be reduced to one lane. Construction crews will provide flagmen to keep traffic flowing in both directions.

For about two weeks, anyone walking between Garland and Levering will have to detour toward Latrobe Hall, using the steps by the Garland freight elevator.

For about three weeks, wheelchair users will have to use a temporary ramp at the south entrance to Garland Hall.

The roadway at the northeast corner of Garland will be closed over one weekend. That will make it impossible to drive from, for instance, Shriver Hall to the Johns Hopkins Club for those few days.

Food service delivery to Levering will be staged from what was Bowman Drive or from the roadway west of Levering. Campus security will direct traffic during deliveries.

Trees along the north side of Garland will have to go to make way for the underground utilities. Replacements will be planted, however, as part of the eventual conversion of the entire area to a vehicle-free pedestrian mall, part of the new campus master plan.