With Old Davis Road shut down intermittently for construction this summer, traffic is being detoured to "Old" Old Davis Road, between the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and the arboretum. "Old" Old Davis Road has not functioned as a through road for more than five years — ever since the university built the "new" Old Davis Road. Its construction coincided with the development of the Mondavi Center and the south entry garage.

Now the university is building the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science in the same area, and crews are putting in pipelines under Old Davis Road to carry utilities to the institute.

For continued access to the garage and Mrak Hall Drive during the utilities construction project, the university reopened "old" Old Davis Road.

Motorists going to and from the garage take a long detour: They make a big loop around the Mondavi Center, and enter and exit the garage from the south side.

The pipeline project is not limited to Old Davis Road. Work also is under way on La Rue Road and across the arboretum waterway in the vicinity of the California Avenue bridge.

The campus had planned to close the bridge to all traffic this summer, but recently decided to keep the bridge open to northbound traffic. Still, northbound motorists are advised to expect delays, and to consider using the Hutchison Drive entry, off Highway 113, as an alternate. Parking is available in the west entry garage off Hutchison.

People who normally cross the California Avenue bridge southbound will need to use Hutchison and Highway 113 instead.

Another change: Limited parking is now available in Lot 47A. Earlier the university planned a full closure. Parking continues to be banned along La Rue Road between California Avenue and Dairy Road, to give the contractor room to work.

Julie Sams, project manager, urged caution on this section of La Rue: It has no bicycle lanes, and with construction under way, the road is even more congested — with drivers, bicyclists and construction vehicles sharing narrow lanes.