AEP Super Vault Roanoke

As part of American Electric Power’s upgrade to their Roanoke Virginia location, three exceptionally large underground concrete vaults were required to house the transformers and equipment needed with the upgrade. Typical “Cast-in-place” construction would require an open excavation and closing of an important downtown street and parking area for an extended period of time.

Three 26 foot by 12 foot by 12 foot (inside) “Super Vaults” were produced and prepped in CP&P’s Salem facility and then installed by Carolina Conduit Systems’ team over one weekend. Each Super Vault was fabricated in two halves, each section weighing approximately 50 tons. Special hauling was required from the Salem facility to the project site in Downtown Roanoke. The precast concrete sections were the largest pieces ever produced by the Salem facility, and are the largest vaults installed to date for AEP. The team at Carolina Conduit Systems installed the six sections without ever sending a person down into the massive hole, excavated the day before to receive the vaults.