Lancaster, California: The Musical Road

The Singing Road in Lancaster, CA has returned. Once again music lovers can enjoy "The William Tell Overture" (AKA the theme from "The Lone Ranger") as they drive down a remote but scenic stretch of road on the outskirts of town. Originally constructed for a Honda car commercial, it was removed after neighbors complained about the strange noises and unruly behavior of people driving over the road. So after 18 days, the road was paved over.

The City of Lancaster decided to construct a new road on Avenue G between 30th and 40th West, on a less populated stretch of road that has no houses nearby. Honda didn't want its company name on the road, so the new road has no corporate sponsor. Instead, the Lancaster Parks, Recreation and Arts Department plans to pay for the road by sponsoring special events and programs having to do with the road.

We drove over the road several times. At the posted 55 mph speed limit, the music sounded a bit slow and dour. As we increased our speed in subsequent runs, the music sounded more lively. We found this experience to be great fun! And free, too.

Avenue K is a musical street. If you drive on Avenue K between 63rd and 70th street west at 50 miles per hour, you will hear the William Tell Overture, better known as The Long Ranger song. The road was grooved precisely by a mathematician and engineer for a commercial for Honda to promote the Honda Civic. The commercial was filmed Sept. 5-6, 2008. The road will remain musical until normal road use wears down the grooves. A sign marks the location of the musical stretch. Only two other musical highways exist -- one in Tokyo and one in Korea, according to YouTube.