LEWISTON - A 50- to 60-foot doughy mass is clogging a sewer line under the city's main drag, and crews have been unable to budge it.

"We're not sure exactly what it is," Public Services Director David Jones said Wednesday. "We're just trying to get rid of it. We want it to stop clogging up our pipe."

The clog starts in front of the United Baptist Church on Main Street and continues downhill to the Bates Street intersection. The sewer line that it's in begins in front of Sam's Italian Foods, according to Deputy Public Services Director Kevin Gagne.

He said the blockage affects six Main Street businesses between Bates and Blake streets - Wolf Eye Associates, the United Baptist Church, Sam's Italian Foods, Classy Lady Boutique, PEG Associates and Pro-Print. No private dwellings are affected. Representatives from most of the businesses said Wednesday they had no problems with their sewer systems. A Sam's employee wouldn't comment on the situation. Executives from the restaurant, which serves pizza among other dishes, couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday night.

The city has little choice but to replace the 12-inch diameter pipe, at a cost of between $40,000 and $60,000, Jones said.

"We have to go back in and pump out the manhole every eight hours," he said. "We just can't continue to do that until the spring. We have to do this work now."

City crews discovered the clog earlier this month after responding to complaints of blocked sewer lines downtown. Jones said crews opened a manhole at the Bates Street intersection and saw the clog - an oozing, white blob that looks like uncooked dough.

"We've tried punching through it, but each time we do, it just oozes back over the hole," he said. "It really looks like dough."

Jones said the city was investigating the source of the clog and he wouldn't comment on whether it could be traced to a local business.

He is scheduled to meet with contractors next week, and the pipe replacement would begin by Thursday or Friday.

"It's a very old pipe, and it was due to be replaced eventually," Jones said. "But it was working for now."