Drivers cruising down Route 66 in Winslow now have a new way to take it easy. Near the 9/11 Memorial on the east end of town, Tim Arnold and Nick Blair of Road Tunes have just finished installing their one-of-a-kind “musical road,” a stretch of engineered rumble strip that plays the iconic “Standin’ on the corner in Winslow, Arizona” portion of Take It Easy when cars pass over it at 35 mph.
Arnold, the founder of Road Tunes, first had the idea while daydreaming about how thrilling it would be for Auburn University fans to hear the school’s fight song while driving past the football stadium. He shared the thought with Blair, and the two engineers put their heads together to create a proprietary and now patented strip system that can play virtually any tune.
Winslow marks their third project overall and the very first outside their home state of Alabama. Their second road was completed earlier this year in Mobile. For this special installation, they teamed up with the Winslow Chamber of Commerce as part of the city’s Route 66 centennial celebration. With the centennial just months away in 2026, the chamber hopes the new attraction will boost tourism and give visitors yet another reason to slow down and enjoy Winslow’s charm.
The job wasn’t small: the crew spent about six hours carefully laying 313 feet of the strip down Third Street, which is also Route 66. Unlike older musical roads that required sawing or melting grooves into pavement, Road Tunes’ design uses a prefabricated synthetic strip that attaches cleanly to the surface. The company says the method is safer, long-lasting, and requires no invasive roadwork, while also helping drivers stay alert and maintain the speed limit.
“Musical roads have always been a curiosity,” Arnold notes on the company’s website, “but we wanted to engineer one that actually sounds good, lasts longer, and is easy to install.”
For Winslow, that curiosity hits the sweet spot. Tourists already flock to “Standin’ on the Corner Park,” but now the city’s iconic most lyric is no longer just a photo op, it’s a soundtrack under your tires.
So the next time you’re passing through town, don’t rush. Keep your wheels steady at 35 mph, roll down the windows and let the road sing you into Winslow.
