All of you have seen many types of roads in the world, but have you ever heard about the singing road or musical road. Yes, it is true. Many roads have been built in the world where music plays whenever the vehicle passes over it. Such roads have been given a name, which is called the musical road. A musical road is a road, or part of a road, which when driven over causes a tactile vibration and audible rumbling transmitted through the wheels into the car body in the form of a musical tune. There are many countries where these musical roads have been built. These roads are known to exist in nine countries: Denmark, Japan, South Korea, the United States of America, China, San Marino, Taiwan, The Netherlands, and Ukraine.
A singing road was installed near the village of Jelsum in Friesland. The Friesland provincial anthem (De Alde Friezen) would play if drivers obeyed the speed limits, otherwise the song would play off-key. After complaints from villagers, the singing road was removed.
Denmark - Asphaltophone
The first known musical road, the Asphaltophone, was created in October 1995 in Gylling, Østjylland, Denmark. It was constructed by Steen Krarup Jensen and Jakob Freud-Magnus, two Danish artists. The Asphaltophone is made from a series of raised pavement markers, similar to Botts' dots, spaced out at intermittent intervals -- watermark -- so that as a vehicle drives over the markers, the vibrations caused by the wheels can be heard inside the car.
Japan - Melody Road
In Japan, Shizuo Shinoda accidentally scraped some markings into a road with a bulldozer and drove over them, and realised that it was possible to create tunes depending on the depth and spacing of the grooves. In 2007, the Hokkaido National Industrial Research Institute, which had previously worked on a system using infra-red lights to detect dangerous road surfaces, refined Shinoda's designs to create the Melody Road. As of 2016, there are now over 30 Melody Roads in Japan, with 4 in Hokkaido, 3 in Hiroshima, 2 in Shizuoka, 2 in Oita, 10 in Gunma, and 1 each in various other prefectures.
Netherlands - Singing Highway
A singing road was installed near the village of Jelsum in Friesland. The Friesland provincial anthem (De Alde Friezen) would play if drivers obeyed the speed limits, otherwise the song would play off-key. After complaints from villagers, the singing road was removed.
South Korea - Singing Road
The Singing Road can be found close to Anyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea. the Singing Road is intended to help motorists stay alert and awake - 68% of traffic accidents in South Korea are due to inattentive, sleeping or speeding drivers. The tune played is "Mary Had a Little Lamb".
United States - Civic Musical Road
The Civic Musical Road was built on Avenue K in Lancaster, California, United States, on September 5th 2008. The road appears in Honda Civic commercials. The rhythm is recognizable, but the intervals are so far off that the melody bears only a slight resemblance to the William Tell Overture, regardless of the car speed.
New Mexico - Tijeras
In October 2014, the village of Tijeras, New Mexico installed a musical road on a two-lane stretch of U.S. Route 66 which plays America the Beautiful when a vehicle drives over it. This highway is labelled NM 333, between Miles 4 and 5, eastbound. Funded by the National Geographic Society, the project was coordinated with the New Mexico Department of Transportation who described the project as a way to get drivers to slow down.
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