Thursday, October 02, 2008

The day the music died



"By putting small notches in Lancaster's Avenue K, similar to those dug into the edges of freeways, cars driving over them produce part of Rossini's William Tell Overture - colloquially known as the Lone Ranger theme.

"Developed by Honda as part of an ad campaign, the notches are dug and spaced at specific intervals and sizes that produce different notes as the tires hit them, and the result is musical - although the quality of the song varies.

"Those grooves were (reportedly) tuned specifically for a Honda Civic, traveling at 55 mph over the road. Cars with different wheelbases or those traveling at different speeds produced a different tune.

"The musical road won't be around for much longer however. The citizens of Lancaster have apparently had enough of the noise, and convinced the city to pave over the road."