Traffic Alert: Construction To Shift Lanes On Route 4

NORTH KINGSTOWN, RI — Traffic will be shifted on Route 4 at the Lafayette Road Bridge starting this weekend. Starting Friday night, traffic will be rerouted to a new center lane.

The bridge is located between the Exit 3-Route 102 interchange and Oak Hill Road.
This is the first stage of construction on the bridge. Starting around 9 p.m. on Friday, Route 4 traffic will be shifted to the newly-built center lanes to allow for demolition on the north side of the bridge, with only one lane in each direction. Lafayette Road, which runs underneath the road, will be closed to traffic.

Drivers in the area are recommended to leave extra travel time or seek an alternate route, as backups are likely. The Lafayette Road Bridge was built in 1988 and is considered structurally deficient. Phase Two, which will replace the southbound side of the bridge, is scheduled to get underway in October. The $8.7 million project is set to be finished by summer 2020. To complete the project in such a short time frame, RIDOT has chosen the slide-in bridge method, where prefinished pieces are put into place after the old bridge is demolished.