Mumbai: A road that actually sings for you.
No, this is not music playing on hidden speakers. This is music made when your car passes over certain stretches at a particular speed.
In this case, motorists travelling on the Mumbai Coastal Road corridor can get to hear the iconic Bollywood song “Jai Ho” when their vehicles pass over specially installed grooves at a designated speed.
This is India’s first ‘musical’ or ‘melody’ road, as reported by PTI.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the musical road stretch on Wednesday. Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde and former Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale, who conceptualised the idea, were also present at the event.
Officials said that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) developed the innovative stretch on the northbound carriageway from Nariman Point towards Worli on the iconic Coastal Road, which has been na
med after Dharmaveer Swarajyarakshak Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj.
This is the fifth such road in the world and the first of its kind in India, the BMC has claimed.
Civic officials told the news agency that musical strips have been installed around 500 metres ahead on the first lane adjoining the divider after vehicles exit the Worli-bound underground tunnel.
When vehicles travel over the grooves at 70 to 80 kmph, the friction-generated sound waves produce the melody of “Jai Ho” from the film Slumdog Millionaire. The music is loud enough to be clearly heard inside the vehicle.
Signboards have been placed inside the tunnel at 500 metres, 100 metres, and 60 metres before the stretch to alert motorists about the upcoming musical road and the required speed for the experience, officials said.
The BMC had mentioned in a released that grooves or rumble strips of specific dimensions and spacing have been embedded in the road surface.
When vehicles pass over them at a constant speed, the vibrations caused by tyres create musical notes, forming a recognisable tune. Such stretches are popularly known as ‘melody roads’ or ‘musical roads’.
Shizuo Shinoda, an engineer from Japan developed the concept in 2007. Such roads exist in Japan, Hungary, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.