They absolutely can, but I think you have to have a plan for how you'll manage it and also realistically know where it's going and be on the same page about that (like you aren't going to still be long distance in 7 years time, so you'll need to decide who is going to move, how that would work, how that would affect your lives, etc. or at least set a future date by which you will decide those things). My dh and I were long distance for about 2.5 years. And by long distance, I mean 11 hours by plane. He lived in the UK and I lived in California in the U.S. We met working abroad as expats in Asia, dated for about 7 months there, before we had to move back to our respective countries.
So we did spent 7 solid months when we were together nearly every single day after work/on weekends and sleeping over nearly every single night. And when we moved home and became long distance, we did it knowing that we intended to figure out a way to be in the same country together as soon as we could and with the intention to get married after we did that. I had just made a 2 year commitment to a particular career path just as we had met and started dating that meant I had to go back to the U.S. He was committed to being in the UK for at least another year. We spent an awful lot of money, but we managed to fly to see each other about every 2-3 months for two weeks to a month at a time for 2 years. We are fortunate that our professional lives allow for that sort of flexibility and travel. And we started planning from the very start how one of us would move to be with the other (unfortunately, dh's visa was denied as he didn't have enough investment, mortgage, etc. in the UK to be able to prove he only planned to be in the U.S. a few years), so it took a bit longer until I could make the move the other way.
It was hard and so expensive, but it was worth it because we always knew there was an end in sight and we focused on future plans. We also were young at the time (in our 20s) with few commitments that might keep us from moving (no kids, no mortgage, no permanent jobs, lots of career flexibility, etc.). I moved to the UK to be with him after 2.5 years and we got married exactly 3 years after we met and have been together nearly a decade now.
So from my perspective, a 4.5 hour drive seems like nothing. I don't even know I'd count that as 'long distance' to be honest, as it is something you could easily do in a weekend. My mum and step-dad lived about 4.5 hours from each other when they first met (online dating). They still spent nearly every weekend together for about 2 years. She would leave work on Friday and drive straight to his and be there by 8:30/9pm and then would get up at like 4am and leave for work on Monday mornings to get in by 9am. But I do think you need to know things are serious or heading that way and you need to be willing to talk about how you'll shift your lives around to be together when the time comes, meaning one or both of you needs to be pretty flexible and happy to make the move for the other.