North Stonington — Seven years ago, a 120-foot-long bridge connecting North Stonington and Westerly closed to traffic, forcing residents to take at least a 6-mile detour to get to the other side.

Today, the Boom Bridge Road bridge — or the Boombridge Road bridge, if one is in Rhode Island — remains closed, much to the chagrin of Rosalind Lewis, co-owner of the Beriah Lewis Farm.   

The farm, with 750 acres on the Connecticut side of the Pawcatuck River and a smaller, rented amount on the Rhode Island side, has suffered economically because of the closed bridge, Lewis said.

"We're a pretty big business ... and we're pretty big taxpayers," Lewis said. "And yet this bridge cost us, this past harvesting season, $200 to $275 a day."

With cows and corn on the Rhode Island side of the bridge, she explained, up to five trucks need to make the 14-mile round-trip commute — rather than a mile-long one — several times a day during peak season.

The inoperative bridge also could pose a problem in the event of an emergency, Lewis said, especially if a fire at the sprawling farm were to make access from the Connecticut side limited or nonexistent.

Lewis and her two sons — who each live in separate homes nearby — aren't the only ones affected. Prior to its closure, the bridge's traffic averaged 450 vehicles per day.

"You'd think they were building the George Washington Bridge," Lewis said, smiling through her frustration. "It's very discouraging when you look around and the infrastructure is being maintained everywhere else you look."

So, what's the hold up?

"There is an epic, complicated level of permitting required and interaction between multiple levels of states and localities taking place here," state Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Nursick said, adding that the DOT only became fully involved last year. "This is not an ideal scenario in terms of having a streamlined, fast, efficient process for replacing this bridge."

After crews discovered the severely deteriorated status of the bridge's steel beams in 2008, North Stonington took the lead on what at first was going to be a superstructure replacement project.

It secured TranSystems, which has an office in Meriden, in 2011 to handle the bridge's design.

In late 2012, recognizing the complexities of a bridge construction project between two states, the Connecticut DOT decided to oversee construction when the time came, requiring additional environmental and other permits as well as the involvement of the Rhode Island transportation and environmental management departments.

By early 2013, the state DOT gave TranSystems the green light to design a complete replacement of the bridge, meaning the company had to plan for a new drainage system, additional foundation and substructure design and a bridge that will be three feet higher than what currently exists over the Pawcatuck River.

Now, with its design about 90 percent complete and funding in place, the project remains in limbo.

Following the removal of Rhode Island's White Rock Dam, which began in August, TranSystems will need to determine what its absence will mean for the flow of the Pawcatuck River near the bridge.

In other words, the 122-foot-long, 24-foot-wide, single-span bridge, on which construction had been slated to start in the spring of this year, again has a new timeline.

"In theory," Nursick said, "it should go out to bid in 2016 for construction in 2017."

The estimated cost, put at $2.8 million two years ago, has increased to $3 million, with Connecticut handling $2.4 million and the Rhode Island Department of Transportation responsible for $600,000.

Of the $2.4 million Connecticut needs to cover, 80 percent, or $1.92 million, will be funded by a federal bridge replacement and rehabilitation program.

Given the regularity of inspections, it is rare for departments of transportation to close bridges without ample warning beforehand.

Records show that the Westerly Town Council discussed the bridge in April 2003 and March 2004. During the former, a councilor said the director of public works at the time would prefer to address the Weekapaug Bridge first.

That bridge was closed in September 2011 and reopened three months later.

Minutes from North Stonington's 2003 and 2004 Board of Selectmen meetings weren't immediately available.

The Boom Bridge Road bridge, built in the 1960s, is owned partly by North Stonington and partly by Westerly.

"This is the first time we've encountered anything like this," Nursick said. "Quite frankly, we don't know who's going to own it when we're done with it. That's a bridge we'll have to cross when we get there."

l.boyle@theday.com

Twitter: @LindsayABoyle