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All the United States New Mexico Albuquerque Musical Highway
Musical Highway is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Musical Highway

If drivers cross the rumble strip on this stretch of Route 66 at just the right speed it plays "America the Beautiful."

Albuquerque, New Mexico

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katbier
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Drivers have to go 45 miles per hour to hear the song.   CNN/CC BY 2.0
A sign beside the “Musical Highway.”   Devilstocksoup/CC BY-SA 3.0
A sign beside the “Musical Highway.”   Devilstocksoup/CC BY-SA 3.0
The singing rumble strips.   CNN/CC BY 2.0
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Most rumble strips alert drivers they’ve strayed too close to the edge of the road with a loud, grating vibration. The grooved lines on a sleepy stretch of Route 66 near Tijeras, New Mexico have a different trick up their sleeve: They sing.

On this quarter-mile section of the highway, the rumble strips have been engineered to sound like the song “America the Beautiful.” But they won’t croon their patriotic tune for anyone with a lead foot. Drivers have to be going exactly 45 miles per hour (the speed limit) to hear the vibrations in action.

The “Musical Highway” was installed in 2014 as part of a partnership between the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the National Geographic Channel. It’s designed to encourage drivers on the otherwise unremarkable stretch of the historic road to slow down and adhere to the speed limit.

Getting the rumble strips to serenade travelers required a fair bit of engineering. The individual strips had to be placed at the precise distance from one another to produce the notes they needed to sing their now-signature song.

People reacted favorably to the rumbling roadside concert. Some drivers even double back for a second shot at making the highway sing, if they somehow missed it on their first pass or found themselves traveling a bit too fast or slow. However, some say the song has gotten a bit out of tune in the years since the rumble strips were installed. 

Update as of June 2020: New asphalt and removed signs means it is harder to stay on the rumble strip these days.

Update as of May 2022: The signs have all been removed and the song does not play in its entirety. There is still about a quarter-mile stretch that plays the tune. It is after the underpass and before the next large turnout. You must have your passenger window partially down and drive under 55 mph. It is still worth checking out.

Related Tags

Musical Roads Music Roads Roadside Attractions Route 66 Infrastructure

Know Before You Go

The "Musical Highway" is eastbound on Route 333 (part of the old Route 66 system) between mile markers 4 and 5, near exit 170.

Community Contributors

Added By

katbier

Edited By

JTGreen, judindrm, Kerry Wolfe

  • JTGreen
  • judindrm
  • Kerry Wolfe

Published

September 13, 2017

Updated

January 3, 2025

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Sources
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxFNtc4y86k
  • http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/take-drive-down-americas-musical-highway-180958449/
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_uAy9JuT_E
  • http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a20082/route-66-musical-highway/
  • http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/10/route-66-adds-singing-road-as-speeding-deterrent/
  • http://mentalfloss.com/article/73142/musical-roads-5-places-where-streets-sing
Musical Highway
Route 66
Albuquerque, New Mexico
United States
35.07083, -106.417451
Get Directions

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