MARQUETTE COUNTY -- After a five-year struggle with progress on a proposed County Road 595, Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company announced Tuesday that they no longer plan to use County 595 as the route for their trucks servicing Eagle Mine.

Instead, they plan to use more established roads, the Triple A, and County Roads 510 and 550.

Wednesday afternoon, I talked to a half dozen business owners and residents along the route, and each expressed great concern about this proposed route.  They're worried about the safety of their families and the impact it could have on business.

Dwain McGeorge has lived about 10 miles up the road from Marquette on 550 for 26 years.  He's concerned about the proposed transportation plan.

"I'm not very happy about that," says McGeorge.  "I don't want 50 more trucks going by here every week.  I don't agree with it, I don't like it."

Philip Pearce has owned and operated Phil's 550 for 14 years.  He believes the increased traffic will actually hurt his business, one that is already struggling with a weakened economy.

"You can be sure that they're not going to be going 55 mph," says Pearce.  "They're not going to stop (here); my parking lot is not big enough.  They don't have time to stop.  They've got everything they need in their truck, so it's not going to do my business, I don't think, any good."

Both men also had concerns about adding more trucks to the pre-existing logging truck traffic.

"We have a lot of logging trucks on this road, too.  It's going to be crazy," Pearce said.  "It's going to be crazy, that many trucks, and this is a small, bad road to begin with."

"It's just not the best road; there's a lot of curves," McGeorge added.  "I just don't think it's a good idea."

But Kennecott says they plan to work with these concerns.

"This is really just the first step in developing the plan, and now we will upgrade existing roads in the transportation corridor," says Matt Johnson of Kennecott External Affairs.  "We will continue our dialogue with the community and local units of government in the coming weeks."

If Kennecott moves forward with the plans to utilize the more established roads, upgrades and significant safety and structural improvements must be made.

Under current restrictions, portions of the route are only seasonal and would not be available for Kennecott trucks' full-time use.