Company plans to work with county
MARQUETTE -- Kennecott will not be developing a new road in western Marquette County. The announcement Tuesday comes after a five-year effort that cost the company more than eight million dollars.
Citing cost and permit delays, Kennecott officials say improving existing roads is the better option for the company.
The initially proposed north-south road of County Road 595, also known as Woodland Road, would have been a 22-mile stretch of road that would have diverted truck traffic away from Marquette and Marquette Township, as well as Negaunee and Ishpeming.
According to company officials, improvements will be made to the existing truck routes on County Roads 510 and 550.
"It was a difficult decision for Kennecott not to pursue the development of County Road 595, or formerly known as the Woodland Road; however, using existing roads within the county offers a better timeline and business, certainty for the mining project," said Matt Johnson, Government & Community Relations Manager for Kennecott.
"Everyone will be impacted with the heavy truck traffic, causing city and county officials to deal with health, safety, and the volume of heavy truck traffic, 24/7, travelling through residential roads," said Marquette City Commissioner and Mayor Pro-tem Johnny DePetro.
In the coming weeks, Kennecott officials are planning to reach out to both county officials and residents of the roads affected.
So far, Johnson says they're only anticipating having about 50 of their covered dump trucks on those roads per day. However, DePetro says city officials believe the number may be more than 100.
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