The so-called Musical Road or Singing Road along Route 66 in Tijeras, New Mexico, is fading away with no plans from the state to restore or maintain it.
ROUTE Magazine reported it on Facebook on May 26, and an Albuquerque Journal columnist confirmed it a few days later.
D’val Westphal of the Journal reported that several travelers told her the stretch of custom rumble strips that would play “America the Beautiful” while driving over it at 45 mph was in disrepair or had been patched over with new asphalt, with the signs marking it were removed.
Westphal asked a state transportation official about it. This is what she found:
Kimberly Gallegos, who now handles information for the state Department of Transportation, says it “turns out there are no plans to restore the musical highway. The cost is outrageous, and they have since restored portions of the roadway and removed all of the signs. Unfortunately, this was part of a previous administration and never set in stone to keep up with the maintenance of this singing highway.”
Bernalillo County about six months ago considered taking over the Musical Road, but apparently that didn’t happen.
Tigress Productions created and paid for the Singing Road for a National Geographic Channel series, “Crowd Control,” in 2014.
Here’s what the Singing Road sounded like shortly after its construction:
RETRO Relive the Route, a Route 66 advocacy group based in that area, lobbied the state to take over the upkeep of that section, to no avail.
(Image of the Singing Road signs near Tijeras, New Mexico, in 2014)
Definitely something that should be brought back, perhaps with that “Route 66″song, you know.