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Fujairah road plays Beethoven: 7 other countries that have musical roads
Listen to a highway in South Korea sing 'Mary Had a Little Lamb', while another in California plays the 'William Tell Overture'
Drivers on Fujairah's Sheikh Khalifa Street are being surprised by a one-of-kind musical experience. As they drive over a certain stretch of the road, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony plays, making it a new adventure for motorists in the UAE to try.
The rumble strips, carefully engineered into the road surface just before the Fujairah Police Headquarters, produce the classical music piece when driven over at a steady pace.
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However, musical roads aren't a new concept. Invented in Denmark, these melody roads have become popular in many parts of the world. Here are some well-known ones:
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The Asphaltophone
The first one in the world, called the Asphaltophone, was built in October 1995 in Gylling, Denmark, by Danish artists Steen Krarup Jensen and Jakob Freud-Magnus. In the clip below, the Asphaltophone is shown after 90 seconds.
Second musical road in France
The world's second musical road was made in 2000 in Villepinte, Sien-Saint-Denis, France. The road seems to have been paved over just two years later, but some claim that it can still be heard when driving on the road.
USA’s first
America’s first musical road was built in 2008 — in Avenue K, Lancaster, California. Called the Civic Musical Road, a quarter-mile stretch was designed to play the finale of the 'William Tell Overture' when driven over at a certain speed.
However, due to complaints from residents about the noise created by the road, it was moved two miles out of town onto Avenue G, where it still sits today.
Another musical road in the US exists in New Mexico, that plays 'America the Beautiful' to get cars to slow down on a section of Route 66 between Albuquerque and Tijeras.
30 musical roads in Japan!
Japan seems to be the most enthusiastic about singing roads. In 2007, a man named Shizuo Shinoda accidentally scraped some markings into a road with a bulldozer before driving over them, realizing they could create different musical tones. There are now at least thirty musical roads in Japan today, with some playing the theme song from the anime Neon Genesis Evagelion and the song 'Always with Me' from the film 'Spirited 'Away'.
To prevent drivers from dozing off
Several roads in South Korea have installed musical grooves to get motorists to pay attention. The Singing Road close to Anyang, Gyeonggi, created using grooves cut into the ground, plays a version of the nursery rhyme 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'.
Accident prevention
Indonesia too installed a melody road to reduce the number of traffic accidents. The road, along the Ngawi-Kertosono section of the Solo-Kertosono Toll Road in Java, plays the first six notes of ‘Happy Birthday to You’ when driven over at the correct speed.
In memory
Hungary installed a musical road in 2019 as a tribute to László Bódi (stage name Cipő), lead singer from the band Republic. When going on the side of the road, an approximately 30-second snippet of their song '67-es út (Road 67)' plays. Listen to the melody below:
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