Solomons Island Overhead to Underground Relocation

Shared Underground Space

The project was unique because all electric and communication ducts were installed in the same duct bank under the sidewalk. This required segregation of the communication ducts from the high voltage electric ducts, with dedicated splicing vaults and hand boxes for each utility.

Keeping Things Moving

Village sidewalks leave little extra room within the public right-of-way for pad-mounted utility equipment and splicing vaults, so Century had to be constantly mindful of how the underground infrastructure would affect the above-ground landscape. Paired with the need to maintain access on the busy main road and the presence of gas, water, gravity and force main sewer, and fiber optic communications, there was little room for error or wasted space.

Tree-Friendly Design

Century determined that open-cut trenching near the trees would result in significant tree loss, so we designed the system to be installed via horizontal directional drilling (HDD) in the areas close to mature trees. The HDD ducts are installed at a depth below the root systems so that the roots are not affected.