ACP Pubs

Loren Faulkner

California's Singing Highway Back By Popular Demand…
October 20, 2008

Last month I reported about the short life of California’s unique Singing Highway in the Southern California desert town of Lancaster. The Honda company cut grooves into the concrete on a stretch of road that played the tune of  The William Tell Overture as  motorists drove across it at about 55mph. (The theme of the 1950’s T.V. show, “The Lone Ranger.”)

It was built for a television commercial but lasted only a short time because of noise complaints from nearby residents. The City decided it should be paved over.

But other local residents really liked it, and YouTube gave the road International coverage. One commenter on this Blog—Jennifer Reuter-- wrote:

I think if they pave over it… They should at least move it somewhere in the Antelope Valley where there are no residents near by. It is truly historic, especially since this is definitely something people that come to Lancaster would want to see and we don’t really have a lot of that here. The neighbor nearest the noise is all for it, he even put out a sign to save the music. Not to mention it is the only one in the US and 1 of only 4 in the world!

Well, Jennifer got her wish. The City of Lancaster received hundreds of  phone calls requesting the Singing Highway be kept in Lancaster, somewhere. Lancaster officials have seen the light and will be allowing a replacement this week. I called city hall about the new site. For anyone wanting to drive over it, it will be located on Avenue G between 30^th and 40^th Street in Lancaster.

Since I’ll be up that way this week, I’ll check out the work and drive across it. Who knows, this could start a trend in the U.S. to keep motorists awake over long stretches of Interstate Highways—a real safety idea, for sure…

Posted by Loren Faulkner on October 20, 2008 | Comments (1)