IRON MOUNTAIN — A paving project on County Road 573 from the city limits of Norway to U.S. 2 is scheduled to start today, the Dickinson County Road Commission said.

The project is the result of a partnership between the commission and Michigan Technological University, funded by the commission with the aid of a $1 million state grant. Bacco Construction Co. of Iron Mountain is the contractor.

As County Road 573 is not an all-season route, the commission said in a news release it opted for an overlay to provide a renewed surface at much reduced cost, adding a full reconstruction of the highway would be more than $4 million.

Recycled rubber from scrap tires in the asphalt mix is intended to improve cold weather cracking resistance. Although this has been done in the past, this project is noteworthy due to the higher percentage of recycled rubber being incorporated — 20%, as compared with 10% in the past.

MTU research suggests increasing the rubber content significantly improves crack resistance, especially in harsh winter climates.

The rubber from scrap tires is stripped from the steel belting and ground into a fine powder that’s mixed in at the asphalt plant. The rubber in this project will recycle about 28,200 tires, officials said.