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ISHPEMING TWP -- The Marquette County Road Commission passed a resolution Monday night to begin planning a revised version of the Kennecott Woodland Road.  They're calling it County Road 595, and it's designed to reduce truck traffic in Marquette and provide access to recreation.

CR 595 has the green light for planning, but at Monday night's meeting, it didn't go without opposition.

"This is a poor idea," said Marquette County resident John Saari.  "We have better ideas; we should avoid the top half of that corridor."

CR 595 is plan B for Woodland Road.  The original plan was objected to by federal agencies including the EPA and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  The revised 595 will be an all-season county road which will run north, 22 miles from US-41.  It will exist somewhere within a four-mile wide corridor, two miles on either side of County Road FY.

Because of the road's link to Kennecott, it has caused major controversy.

"You do not have the public's will on this one," said Marquette County resident, Cynthia Pryor.  "I would advise you to have another meeting.  I would advise you to delay the decision tonight.  You need more input."

Still, county officials came out to show their support.

"We urge you to move forward on this for you to do due diligence what you need to do for the permits," said Marquette County Board member, Deb Pellow.

"The vast majority in Humboldt Township, although it is a smaller portion of the road, supports this road coming out on FY," said Humboldt Township Supervisor, Joe Derocher.  "It isn't very often that we get an opportunity to have private dollars build a public road."

Kennecott will fund the new project, and although it was approved for planning, officials say nothing is set in stone just yet.

"The concept is just a plan right now," said Road Commission engineer, Jim Iwanicki.  "There are no specific details in dealing with that plan.  We don't know what the exact route is; there's a lot of environmental concerns that need to be addressed."

The commission says their next step will be contacting legal counsel to look into public/private partnerships for maintainance costs.