A concrete natural gas valve vault/junction chamber was installed at the southeast corner of South Lincoln and East Division in Rockford, MI, in November 2008. The pit size was 12 feet wide by 16 feet long by 12 feet deep. Kent Power, of Kent City, MI, was the prime contractor for the project.
Pro-Tec Equipment provided its Slide Rail Shoring System. Three 12-foot panels instead of the standard 8-foot and 4-foot panels were used for the Slide Rail Shoring System, according to Thomas A. Marciniak, Pro-Tec Marketing/Sales representative.
"There were overhead wires nearby, and this pit was 12 feet from a major four-lane road. A traditional box couldn't be used," Marciniak said. The water was approximately 5 feet deep, and soft, sticky clay made the Slide Rail Shoring System difficult to remove.
Kent Power installed a regulation set in order to increase the pounds per square inch (psi) in the gas system from 10 psi to 60 psi. The vault is 8 feet by 8 feet by 15 feet.
"The existing vault was further to the west in the roadway and it had been there for a number of years. It was time to upgrade and install a newer vault out of the roadway so that it would be more accessible to DTE Energy crews," Ernie Hileman, foreman for Kent Power, said. Hileman said that the new vault provides more room for DTE personnel to work.
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