Route 66 gets new tune with musical road in this Oklahoma city
"I think most of the people experiencing it are going to see it as magic," Route 66 Musical Roads co-founder Chris Hill said.
Greta CrossRoute 66 is getting a new tune.
In March, the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, unveiled the state's first musical road in conjunction with this year's Route 66 Centennial. Designed as a rumble strip, the stretch of musical road produces specific musical notes when a vehicle passes over top at a set speed. Tulsa's musical road on the Southwest Boulevard Bridge, plays "This Land is Your Land" by Oklahoma native Woody Guthrie, chosen by the city.
Tulsa's musical road is the second of its kind along Route 66, the first installed this year for the Route 66 Centennial. The first musical road on Route 66 was installed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2014.
Route 66 Musical Roads co-founders Chris Hill and Pete Thompson are the masterminds behind the project. They have a goal of installing musical roads in each of the eight states Route 66 passes through by the end of 2026. The road strips serve as both entertainment and a form of traffic safety, forcing drivers to slow down, abide by the speed limit and enjoy the tune, the pair said.
"I think most of the people experiencing it are going to see it as magic," Hill told USA TODAY. "It transcends regular thinking in a way because it hits people on all levels. If you're driving to work, you just got an interesting drive to work. If you're a four-year-old kid, you got a life memory. I don't think there are many things like it."
How is the musical road made?
Hill said the musical roads are made in two parts: "sneaky mathematics" to create a rumble strip pattern that projects a song when driven over and the actual installation.
First and foremost, a song must be selected. In the case of the Route 66 Musical Roads project, Thompson said each participating city will be in charge of selecting a song, one that the city feels best represents the state. Next, a portion of the song must be selected, typically the chorus, to determine if it's feasible to translate into a rumble strip. Hill said the team is essentially limited to what would be a single finger on a piano when it comes to the sound output.
The selected part of the song is then run through several "algorithms" and "spreadsheets" to determine proper spacing, and then the strips can be placed, with the installation only taking a few days, Thompson said.
Comparing the tumble strips to vinyl, Thompson said, "essentially ... we turn the road into a record, your car into the tone arm and your tire is the needle."
What cities are getting musical roads next?
In addition to Albuquerque and Tulsa, Hill and Thompson hope to install musical roads in six other cities along Route 66. Though the details remain largely under wraps, Springfield, Missouri, may be the next on the map. In August 2025, Mark Hecquet, president of Visit Springfield, told the Springfield News-Leader, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the city is looking into the possibility of rumble strips.
The other states Route 66 passes through are Illinois, Kansas, Texas, Arizona and California. Hill and Thompson did not share which specific cities in these states the musical roads will be added to.
How long do musical roads last?
Thompson said there are two types of musical roads, one that is more permanent and another, like the one in Tulsa, that is temporary.
The musical road in Albuquerque is considered a long-term installation, Thompson said, and should last about 10 years – though this mark passed in 2024. For this install, rumble strips were embedded into the road, and upkeep involves removing debris from the crevices with a street sweeper.
Temporary installations, like the one in Tulsa, Thompson said, are thermoplastic strips placed on top of the road. Used for special occasions, these strips can be easily removed.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at [email protected].