Musical Roads

This is an AP Story by an unknown author.

Grooves cut in the pavement play “The William Tell Overture” when motorists drive over them at 55 mph on Avenue G, west of 30th Street West in Lancaster, California.

There’s a lot more to the story, but that’s the interesting part.  Isn’t that a cute idea?  Obviously you would not want to do this in a residential neighborhood!!!  (Not to mention the danger to children from cars going 55 mph in a residential neighborhood, the noise alone would drive one insane!)

Imagine the math you’d have to go through as well!  You’d have to determine the most prevalent vehicle type so that the most vehicles as possible could hear the same music at the same tempo and tone as possible.  You’d have to calculate the ruts for the accurate distance, depth and frequency.  You’d have to do a lot!

Just based on my knowledge of music, math and physics, I’d say that your speed would have to be pretty close to the speed the grooves were designed for in order for the music to play in a recognizable format.  Too fast and you’d miss notes (tires skipping over grooves) and have deformed notes (too many vibrations traveling too close together.)  Too slow and you might not generate a fast enough wave to carry the melody either.

The article does mention the roads were designed for 55 mph.  That leads me to believe there is a finite range of speeds that the road would function for.

As for tiring of the music, one would think it would be something you would not drive over on a daily basis.  Dunno.  That’s why I mentioned it would really suck to live by the street built like that and you’d probably want to put it in a touristy place like near a boardwalk, pier or famous gathering place where merchants can fleece the tourists.