By Christopher A. Sawyer
The Virtual Driver

(January 1, 2016) Land Rover suggests this is an amazing feat for its Range Rover SUV, but it is more an example of the the brilliance of the architectural arch and of the ancient Romans for recognizing its importance in making strong, lightweight bridges.

Like theses ancient bridges, the span Land Rover created in Suzhou, China, was constructed over a temporary falsework frame called a centring. Over this was laid 54,390 sheets of high quality paper supplied by Britain’s James Cropper PLC. It took three days to complete the bridge.

Unlike the first compression arch bridges, the paper bridge has no keystone in the middle to bear the weight, using the short, high arch section — the paper part — to keep the structure in compression and reduce to a minimum the forces in tension that can tear a structure like this apart. But what is most amazing about this design is the fact that there are no adhesives or fasteners of any kind.

Says artist and paper bridge designer Steve Messam: “Paper structures capable of supporting people have been built before but nothing on this scale has ever been attempted. It’s pushing engineering boundaries.”

Land Rover Experience Chief Instructor Chris Zhou was given the task of driving over the bridge, and used the SUV’s Terrain Response 2 and All-Terrain Progress Control to drive over the bridge without damaging its structure.

We’ll let the video speak for itself.

The Virtual Driver