Civic Musical Road
The Civic Musical Road was built on Avenue K in Lancaster, California, United States, on 5 September 2008. Covering a quarter-mile stretch of road between 60th Street West and 70th Street West, the Musical Road used grooves cut into the asphalt to replicate part of the Finale of the William Tell Overture. It was paved over on 23 September after nearby residents complained to the city council about noise levels.
After further complaints from city residents about its removal, work began to re-create it on 15 October 2008 on Avenue G between 30th Street West and 40th Street West — this time, two miles away from any residence. This road is named after the Honda Civic. It opened two days later. The new section on Avenue G is only in the far left lane of the westbound side of the road.
The road appears in Honda Civic commercials. The rhythm is recognizable, but the pitches are so far off that the melody bears only a slight resemblance to the William Tell Overture. The intonation is not affected by the design of the car or the travel speed. It is likely the designers made a systematic miscalculation which affected all the groove spacings.
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