Mumbai Coastal Road Is Now A Musical Road And Sings ‘Jai Ho’
Mumbai’s Coastal Road now plays the iconic ‘Jai Ho’ tune as vehicles drive over a specially engineered 500-metre musical stretch.
There is some interesting news for driving enthusiasts as our nation brings out yet another kind of infrastructural marvel. Motorists travelling on the Mumbai Coastal Road corridor will now hear the iconic Bollywood song "Jai Ho" when driving over specially installed grooves at a designated speed, making it India's first 'musical' or 'melody' road.India’s first musical road installation was inaugurated recently on February 11th in Mumbai, Maharashtra the Coastal Road.
Vehicles commuting from Nariman Point towards Worli through the Coastal Road will encounter a special piece of tarmac where several special grooves have been laid over a 500-meter stretch in the fast right lane. The grooves are arranged as rumble strips placed at different intervals, and when a car’s tyres ride on the uneven surface, through the road- tyre friction, music starts to emanate out on the road.
Coming to the specifics of the music, commuters will be able to hear the ‘Jai Ho tune’ composed by AR Rahman from Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire movie, while driving over these grooves only at a designated speed of 60-80km/hour. This 500-metre musical road aims to reduce accidents by encouraging drivers to maintain a healthy speed. Several signboards have also been installed at 500 metres, 100 metres, and 60 metres before the musical stretch, including inside the tunnel section, to alert the drivers.
While this may seem to be an exciting thing, many residents have been criticising the new project. On an automotive forum, many users had expressed their agitation, allegedly pointing out that BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation) that it is wasting the Tax Payers money on this extravaganza rather than fixing the potholes in the city.
This is the fifth worldwide and the first in India, and was conceptualised by former MP Rahul Shewale. The project was executed with technical input from Hungarian specialists and commissioned by the BMC at Rs 6.21 crore.
This article is written by Nagadithya, a student of Loyola Academy, Secunderabad, interning with Deccan Chronicle