Roll over Beethoven: Remote highway plays Ode to Joy

A newly build road in the UAE uses strategically spaced grooves in rumble strips to create the sound of Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy’ when driven over.

FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates -- No radio? No problem.

The emirate of Fujairah has installed rumble strips along a 750-metre stretch of highway that play the Ode to Joy melody from Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as cars roll over -- part of a project to integrate music into daily life.

Similar so-called Musical Roads have already been installed in places like the United States, Japan and Hungary.

However, this is the first permanent road in the Arab world according to Ali Obaid Al Hefaiti, director of the Fine Arts Academy in Fujairah, a lesser-known emirate roughly 120 kilometres from the global tourism hub of Dubai.

The technology works by carving strategically-spaced grooves into the asphalt on Fujairah’s Sheikh Khalifa Street. Then, as tires hit the ridges at roughly 100 km/h, the resulting vibrations produce a melody audible inside the vehicle.

Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, a tune known to almost every ear on Earth, was a natural choice, Al Hefaiti said.

Mohammad Al Matrooshi, an Omani resident travelling from Sharjah, said the music relaxed him after a long journey.

“The music gives you a different mood, especially because the music is by Beethoven.”

By Luke Tyson and Abdel Hadi Ramahi

(Reporting by Luke Tyson; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)