On the Road to Making Music
A major road that plays music has gone viral. As part of national highway G333, Yaxue Road, located in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, spans approximately 95.85 kilometers.
The road features four segments of musical roads along its route. As vehicles drive over these sections, different songs can be heard, including the official theme song Snow in Harbin to celebrate the 9th Asian Winter Games. According to a project leader, the construction principle of the musical road involves three steps.
First, technology is used to transform selected musical pieces into simulation files for the musical road. Second, corresponding spacing dimensions are designed based on different melodies to achieve continuous changes in sound waves, simulating a recording effect. This is similar to the process of making vinyl records. Third, grooves are carved into the road surface, and bright colors and markings are applied.
To make an analogy, the musical road can be regarded as a phonograph, where the road surface acts like the record, and car tires are the needle. When the "needle" moves across the "record", the road plays the preset music.
Notably, music can only be heard when vehicles pass through at a certain speed. When a car travels at a speed of 50 to 60 kilometers per hour, the friction between the tires and the road surface creates resonance, producing the music. This encourages drivers to control speed, thereby enhancing road safety to some extent.