On Monday 28 November, a musical highway was inaugurated in Hungary. A ten-kilometre stretch of the widened four-lane Highway 37 between Újharagod and Bekecs was opened. The unusual thing is that one section of the road is “making music”!
The four-laning works on the 19-kilometre section of the main road between Gesztely and Szerencs in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county started in May 2021. The newly opened ten-kilometre section has been opened to traffic in the lanes leading to Miskolc and Szerencs.
As part of the development, two new lanes have been added to the existing Highway 37. What is more, the previously used sections have been renovated This means that motorists can now use 2×2 lanes from Miskolc to Szerencs.
New techniques were used
The investor, National Infrastructure Development (NIF) Ltd, has implemented several new traffic engineering solutions during the construction. They also installed a so-called Bluesystem road restraint system on a seven-kilometre stretch of road.
According to the NIF, they also completed the construction of the concrete circular tracks for all four roundabouts. They also completed the final construction of the side roads connecting to the roundabouts. On top of that, the NIF started the trial run of the street lighting.
A useful and welcoming green area
The section of the main road between Gesztely and Bekecs is extremely dangerous for snowdrifts. Therefore, in order to eliminate the risk of accidents caused by snowdrifts, about 36 hectares of snow-shield forest, 12 hectares of snow-shield shrub strips and more than 41 hectares of snow clearing strips will be planted on the north side of the road. On the south side, the planting of around 300 trees and thousands of shrubs will create a very welcoming green environment.
The final phase
The final phase of the project will continue in early December. The installation of snow fences, the painting of the pavement and the start of the technical handover process are on the schedule. The completion of the HUF 31 billion (EUR 75.7 million) project will be April 2023. Until then, this section of the road will remain a work zone. So, even after the opening of the 2×2 lanes, the speed limit on the main road will remain at 70 kmh.
Video
On the road to Szerencs, the road “plays music” at a speed of 80 kilometres on a 513-metre stretch:
You can read this article in Hungarian on HellóMagyar.
Nice!
In the Netherlands once there was also such a “music highway”
After a few weeks it was turned back to a “normal highway”
People tried to play the music as fast as possible and drive too fast. And people of the next village getting mad of the continuous same melody.
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2018/04/musical-road-drives-dutch-villagers-crazy-by-playing-frisian-national-anthem/