ChainsawCharlie

http://www.dailynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10513632

LANCASTER - If you're cruising down an open desert road this weekend in a convertible and you start hearing the theme to "The Lone Ranger," the hot sun isn't playing tricks with your mind.

You're grooving on the Civic Musical Road - a quarter-mile stretch of asphalt that's been altered - rhythmically - to produce "The William Tell Overture" when a car passes over it.

Part of a promotional campaign for the Honda Civic, it's one of only four in the world - and the only such road in the United States.

"I hear it every day. It's kind of cool to be part of history," said David Gilroy, 43, a carpenter who lives near the noteworthy strip of highway.

"The way I look at it, there's only four in the world, and one in the U.S., and it's right here by my home."

Some motorists pass through the stretch three, four or five times to hear the sound effect, made by specially cut grooves in the asphalt that emit different sounds as the tires pass over them.

The concept is similar to a record player needle gliding across a vinyl LP. The grooves were configured to create the music at 55 mph, the posted speed limit.

The road, about six miles west of downtown Lancaster on Avenue K between 62nd and 70th streets west, has attracted curiosity seekers who have seen YouTube videos of the phenomenon.

Lancaster resident P.J. Walker on Friday snapped a picture of her silver 2002 Honda Civic parked next to the sign marking the start of "The Civic Musical Road."

"It would be fun if they did it in different places all over with different songs," Walker said.

"Something from the Beatles maybe, like `Yesterday,"' she mused as she started humming the first notes of the Lennon and McCartney classic.

But the road has not been music to some residents' ears. In fact, complaints have been so vociferous that city officials plan to pave it over Tuesday.

Detractors say it sounds nothing like the classic symphony by Gioacchino Rossini, but an unrecognizable screech that keeps them awake at night.

"I think it's terrible because it keeps me awake at night," said Donna Martin, a 53-year-old retired budget analyst who lives about a quarter mile from the road. "It's all I hear night and day, and it's not a pretty sound.

"You can kind of tell it's music, but it's not any tune or notes. It's a scratchy sound, a high-pitch drone."

Brian Robin, who lives about a half-mile away, said it sounds like an orchestra that's constantly out of tune.

"When you hear it late at night, it will wake you up from a sound sleep. It's awakened my wife three or four times a night," Robin said.

Llano resident Peggy Hager said it sounded like a "high-pitched whine." She couldn't identify the score, but knew it was a tune because it had a beat and rhythm.

"I think it's kind of cool," Hager said. "When you are driving out on Avenue K, you're going out to the middle of nowhere. It's kind of a nice surprise to come across this thing."

Similar "melody" or "singing" roads have been built in Japan, South Korea and Holland.

Honda's ad agency, Santa Monica-based RPA, decided to incorporate the peculiar music-making method into a Civic commercial that will air nationally in late September.

"Honda is an advanced engineering company, and we thought it would be fun to connect that to the Civic marketing campaign," RPA Senior Vice President and Executive Producer Gary Paticoff said.

Pauline East, the Antelope Valley Film Office's liaison, said the location was picked after Honda said it wanted a sense of community and city lights from one angle, and a feeling of openness from the other. The city approved the project as part of its overall effort to encourage more film and television production.

Half-inch-deep, one-inch- wide grooves were notched into the road at specific intervals so that a vehicle traveling over them produces various tones, said Ray Hunt, Lancaster's capital engineering manager.

"It's similar to the rumble strips along center medians," Hunt said. "They did test strips to identify the spacing needed to create the sound they wanted."

Honda spokesman Chris Martin said the singing road was designed to be heard optimally in a Honda Civic. "It's engineered for the Civic, for that type of tires and length of vehicle," Martin said.

The roadwork was completed Sept. 5. Soon after that, people started complaining.

The city had been told at the beginning that only motorists inside their cars would experience the sound, but the noise carried farther than expected, city officials said.

"Was it historic? Yes. Maybe the wrong location? Obviously," East said. "We thought it was far enough away."