Farnum Pike Bridge On Rt. 146 In N. Smithfield Nears Completion

NORTH SMITHFIELD, RI — On Friday night, a lane split on Route 146 will disappear, traffic will be shifted onto a newly built southbound bridge, and a highway on-ramp from Rt. 104 will be reopened, doing away with a detour for oversized trucks.

The Rhode Island Department of Transportation said that on July 30, it will remove the southbound lane split at Exit 11 and shift traffic over the brand-new Farnum Pike Bridge that goes over Rt. 104 in North Smithfield.

During the operation, travel lanes will be reduced from two to one, but both lanes will reopen by 6 a.m. on July 31.

RIDOT will demolish a temporary bridge used during construction, finish the installation of drainage systems in the median, and complete other tasks over the next several weeks. In late August or early September, workers will restripe the road again, restoring the full width of the travel lanes and shoulders. RIDOT also will repave Route 104 under the bridge.

The bridge was replaced as part of a $13.9 million design-build project. The project's official completion date is summer 2022, but the date is trending several months sooner, RIDOT said.

The Farnum Pike Bridge was built in 1958 and carries around 40,000 vehicles per day. It had been rated structurally deficient for more than 20 years.

The replacement of the Farnum Pike Bridge was made possible by RhodeWorks, RIDOT's ongoing commitment to repair structurally deficient bridges and bring Rhode Island's transportation infrastructure into a state of good repair, promote economic development, and create jobs, the department said in a news release.