LEWISTON - City officials are scheduled to open bids today and select a contractor to replace a clogged sewer line under Main Street.

Water and sewer officials met with contractors Thursday morning to look over the work site between Bates and Blake streets where as much as 60 feet of an aging underground 170-foot sewer pipe are completely clogged.

The clog was described Wednesday as a mysterious, doughy blob. On Thursday, Deputy Public Services Director Kevin Gagne detailed blockage of the 12-inch pipe as largely grease, dough, old rags and mop heads.

Since Jan. 11, city crews have tried to force the 50- to 60-foot clog out of the pipe with high-pressure water and sewer snakes, but nothing has worked.

The blockage affects six Main Street businesses, all located near the end of the sewer pipe: Wolf Eye Associates, the United Baptist Church, Sam's Italian Foods, Classy Lady Boutique, PEG Associates and Pro-Print. When contacted Wednesday, most of the businesses said they weren't experiencing sewer problems because the city has been pumping out accumulated sewer back-up three times a day since the clog was discovered. Sam's declined comment.

On Thursday, Michael Marchus, the general manager for Sam's Italian Foods, said he and others at his company had an opportunity to closely examine a city photograph of the clog and said they believe it "reveals what appears to be three separate pieces of broken pipe mixed in with the sewer sludge."

Marchus, who attributed the blockage to a collapse in the line, indicated that he and other representatives of Sam's have met several times with city officials in the past week to talk about the blockage and the disruption to local businesses and traffic. He said Gagne had confirmed a "definite collapse" on the line.

Late Thursday, Gagne agreed that there is a line collapse, but the clog the city is dealing with is not typical of a line collapse. The sewer line is probably collapsed now, but city workers don't know whether the collapse resulted from attempts to dig out the blockage.

Typically, Gagne explained, any attempt to clear a line after a collapse will result in a great amount of dirt excavated from the pipe. While the city has pulled out some small rocks, there is not the amount of dirt in the pipe that would indicate a collapse prior to the blockage, he said.

"I can't see underground," Gagne said. "We won't know for sure what's underground and what caused it until we've dug it up."

The city will continue to pump sewage from the pipe several times each day until the pipe is replaced, Gagne said.

The work, which is expected to start next week, is estimated to cost between $40,000 and $60,000. It will require digging up the street.