Area engineers soon will begin focusing on an east Lawrence block.

City commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting unanimously agreed to hire BG Consultants to study ways to replace a collapsed sewer line in the 1500 block of New Hampshire Street.

The project is expected to be a challenging one because the 70-year-old line was built without a sewer easement, which means garages, fences, gardens and other structures have been built on top of the buried line.

Commissioners were told that the engineering group will study ways to replace the line without having to tear up major portions of the neighborhood.

The city likely will begin hosting neighborhood meetings on the project in October.