The poloidal field coil system in a tokamak provides the equilibrium, control and shaping fields for the plasma as well as the flux change which induces plasma current and ohmic heating. In CIT all the main coils will play an active part in all these functions. The PF system consists of 16 coaxial coils which will be external to the TF coils and located symmetrically in pairs with respect to the midplane of the machine. Six of the 16 coils comprise the central solenoid assembly. The OH solenoid will have a bore diameter of 0.68 m, an OD of 1.4 m, a height of about 4.0 m, and a central field of almost 22 T. Geometric restrictions are such that an aggressive structural concept for the conductor is required; hence, the coil will consist of a stack of explosively bonded copper/steel plates. Each plate is machined by a water-jet cutting process. This paper presents features of the design and selected results from an R&D program which is underway.