How the world’s tallest bridge changed the map of Europe
Soaring across the scenic landscape, it’s indisputably one of the most beautiful bridges in the world.
Often swathed by mist, so that it feels like crossing through clouds, it is so famous that it has its own visitor center, and people plan trips to the area solely to drive across it. The bridge can even be easily seen from space.
The Golden Gate? No. This is the Millau Viaduct, a perfect example of where engineering meets art. Cantilevered high over the Tarn gorge in southern France, and yawning 2,460 meters (8,070 feet) in length, the Millau Viaduct is the world’s tallest bridge, with a structural height of 336.4 meters (1,104 feet).
But not even those impressive statistics do it justice.
Unlike other famous bridges, which usually connect two points of similar altitude, the Millau Viaduct effectively becomes the opposite of a rollercoaster, plying a flat course across the valley, as the land ripples up and down underneath it.
The seven piers range from 78 meters to 245 meters (256-804 feet) in height, each calculated to the millimeter to make a perfectly smooth experience for drivers soaring across the Tarn. There’s a 342m (1,122ft) span between each pairing – large enough for the Eiffel Tower to slot in the gap. The piers are coupled with seven steel pylons, each 87 meters (285 feet) high, with 11 cable stays fanning out on either side. This all helps keep the “deck” – the road surface, which is around 14 feet thick and weighs 36,000 tons, or the equivalent of 5,100 African elephants – steady.
At the same time as being a work of absolute precision, it’s also beautiful. The Gorges du Tarn area is a protected landscape, yet instead of spoiling the view, the Millau Viaduct enhances it.
It’s a “wonder of the modern world” and an “engineering marvel,” says David Knight, director of design and engineering at Cake Industries and specialist adviser to the Institution of Civil Engineers.
“It’s that perfect interplay of architecture and engineering that means that everybody who sees it thinks it’s spectacular.”
Those living in the valley below look up with wonder; those driving across it – this road, the A75 from Clermont-Ferrand to Béziers, is one of the main north-south routes in France – see the gentle curve arcing across the landscape as they approach. “It gives everyone who uses it a sense of awe,” says Knight.
No wonder that for many, driving across the viaduct is something you travel to do, not something you do while traveling.
So how did this wonder of the modern world come to be built in the middle of France? Why did it take two decades to plan, before opening to traffic in December 2004? And how did it effectively change the map of Europe?
A bridge too far?
The answer to all those questions is geography. The Massif Central is a vast area of highlands cut by deep valleys and gorges, roughly located in the middle part of the bottom half of France. Sprawling across about 15% of the country, and bordered by the Alps to the east, it’s one of the obstacles anyone traveling from north to south of the country – or from northern Europe to Spain – must pass.
So important was this viaduct – but also so difficult – that it was two decades in the planning, according to Michel Virlogeux, the engineer who led the design team – and who first started work on it in September 1987.
“The first problem was not what bridge to build, but where the motorway would pass,” he says.
At the time the Massif Central was remote, despite its central location. There was a single-track railway line, and the roads “weren’t very good,” he says. “The central part of France couldn’t develop due to lack of transport.”
So in the 1980s, the French government decided to upgrade the road network, with then-president Valery Giscard d’Estaing deciding on a freeway. One of the aims was to unclog the notoriously choked road around Millau, where the road descended into the valley and crossed the Tarn river in the city center. Every day there were tailbacks of around 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) either side of the town.
“Going through Millau used to be a traffic blackspot for tourists,” says Emmanuelle Gazel, current mayor of Millau. “There were lots of traffic jams. There were kilometers and kilometers of tailbacks. It gave a very bad image of our area… in terms of pollution it was terrible. And locals took a long time getting from one point to another.”
In the words of Lord Norman Foster, who became the architect of the bridge, the area was “a valley of extreme beauty which had become one of France’s worst bottlenecks.”
The decision to build a bridge around Millau was taken in September 1986, says Virlogeux, who at the time was head of the large bridges division of the French administration. There was just one problem: the geography of the area meant there was no obvious solution. “We started looking where was possible, but many options were bad, and it took almost three years to find a solution,” he says.
One idea was to route the freeway east of Millau, keeping the road on the plateaus, with two suspension bridges to cross the valleys on either side. But that wouldn’t have allowed a connection with Millau – “the only big city between Clermont-Ferrand and Béziers,” says Virlogeux – which needed the economic boost.
So they called in the experts: geologists, geo technologists, road engineers and Virlogeux, who had already designed the Pont de Normandie – the 7,032-foot bridge spanning the river Seine in the northern region of Normandy.
The team’s first idea was to run west of Millau, bringing the road lower in altitude down into the valley, across a bridge at a lower level and up again to the plateau and then a tunnel. They were in the stages of planning when the team’s road engineer, Jacques Soubeyran, had a lightbulb moment.
“He asked, ‘Why are you going into the valley?’ and it was a big shock,” remembers Virlogeux. “The motorway was passing 300 meters above the river. I hadn’t even considered the possibility of passing at a high level. Immediately, I said we were being stupid. We started working on the idea of passing plateau to plateau.”
After just eight days they had detailed drawings of the rippling ground levels, as well as a possible altitude for a freeway snaking across it.
The importance of elegance
They knew where they wanted the viaduct – but what should it look like?
Virlogeux immediately knew that the best option would be a cable-stayed bridge. “Cable is the most efficient structure to carry a load, and you can have a very slender deck so it’s much better to look at,” he says.
Slenderness was important. There was already controversy about the idea of running a bridge through such a famous landscape. To avoid ruining the landscape, it had to “look very quiet.”
Getting the go-ahead took some years. The French government started a competition for the design of the bridge, and in 1996 the commission was won by a group led by Virlogeux as engineer (who had left his previous job a year earlier) and the UK’s Norman Foster – now Lord Foster – as architect. Foster calls their plan to span the valley, rather than the river, a “philosophical concept” that distinguished them from other competitors.
But with the local community up in arms at the idea of their area of natural beauty being spoiled, they face what Foster calls a “design challenge… to create something that would enhance the landscape, sit gently on the floor of the valley – to be the most delicate and light intervention.” Virlogeux says it had to be “pure and simple.”
Yet this precious landscape, which had to be protected aesthetically, was extremely difficult to work around.
“The wind forces at this level are huge and the columns have to accommodate the enormous expansion and contraction of the deck,” says Foster. And we’re not just talking a gentle bounce. The 2,460-meter (8,070-foot) bridge can expand or contract by 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) depending on the weather. Their solution was to add extension joints.
Luckily, while the old adage is that architects and engineers should be at loggerheads, and while you might imagine that two titans of architecture and engineering might clash, Foster and Virlogeux have nothing but praise for each other. Virlogeux says it was a “very easy” working relationship, while for Foster it was a “meeting of minds.” The team had twice-monthly meetings in London while working on the design. “He would ask me, ‘Why do you want this and not that?’ and after that he’d take a decision in five minutes,” says Virlogeux. “Once there was a major controversy about the shape of the deck. He asked me what I proposed, if I was sure it would work. Then he said, ‘OK – architecture must not go against scientific needs.’”
Above the road, the sturdy columns “split” into two more flexible arms, making an artistic statement out of an engineering necessity.
The same goes for the curve of the road, which gently arcs across the valley. It’s not just beautiful; it ensures that there’s no visual overlap – and therefore confusion – for drivers at such a great height. Meanwhile the piers become slimmer as they rise towards the roadway, more or less halving from 24 meters wide at the bottom to 11 meters at the top.
Their design for a cable-stayed bridge with seven elegant piers marching across the landscape and what Foster calls “the snake of a road, improbably thin like a razor blade,” has stood the test of time.
The anxious build
If the design wasn’t challenging enough, then came the construction which started in October 2001. The project cost a cool 400 million euros ($437 million) and was financed by Eiffage, a private construction company which still has the concession for the bridge today. There were 290,000 tons of steel and concrete used to build it, and around 600 builders working on it.
“The huge challenge is what happens when you build it,” says Knight. “As you put the weight in different locations, it moves in different directions. There are different materials interacting with each other – this is as difficult as engineering gets.”
Foster calls the assembly of the deck “a true challenge.”
“It was serenely and slowly launched simultaneously from both sides over the temporary structural supports, meeting in the middle with millimeter precision.”
Virlogeux remembers the “critical wind situation” which risked damaging the structure during the build. Each “launching” operation – during which the deck was installed from both sides – would take up to three days, so they had to monitor the five-day forecast before starting out, to avoid causing damage before the deck reached the next pier.
It was only as the viaduct was put into place that the team could see if their design had worked – from an aesthetic point of view as much as an engineering one.
Every detail had been considered for its potential effect on the landscape, as well as whether it could resist the forces at that altitude.
Foster says that the first time he went to see it, “I was anxious to the point of almost being physically ill.” He had “agonized” over the color of the 154 cable stays – if they were light, they’d blend in with the sky but stand out against the landscape. He went with white – “but the agony was that I wouldn’t know if it was the right decision until it was built – and then it would be too late to change it.”
Luckily for him, the white worked. “I was almost sick with apprehension, but I remember arriving in a car and the bridge gradually coming into view and finally realizing that it was, after all, the right decision.”
Virlogeux was more sanguine. For him, the greatest challenge was overcoming local opposition to be able to build. Getting the contract signed, he says, was the most stressful part. Signing it was “the moment I knew we would build it.”
President Jacques Chirac came to open the bridge and shake hands with the construction workers. Two days later, Virlogeux drove across it on his way back to Paris.
Bridging local hearts and minds
The viaduct may have been controversial when it was first mooted, but local hostility started melting away once it became clear what the project would look like.
“People thought that creating a bypass would mean tourists could avoid Millau and the town would empty out,” says Gazel, the mayor. “Some people thought that it would spoil our landscape, but actually it magnified it.” And it attracted visitors – in its first year alone, 10,000 cars would stop every weekend at the service area to take in the view.
Suddenly, going from the north to south of France, and on from northern Europe to Spain (or vice versa) was an easy experience.
Foster says he was “delighted” at the residents’ change of heart. “A bridge is about communication in the widest sense, not just connecting two plateaus but also linking people,” he says.
Today, the viaduct “has brought lots of tourists to discover Millau,” says Gazel.
“Many come for the viaduct, but discover all the other facets of our area. Others are traveling on vacation and stop off. Millau isn’t a blackspot anymore. It has become a destination – tourists choose to visit Millau, and they no longer have to endure the terrible tailbacks. So it didn’t empty out the town; on the contrary.”
As well as being an area of outstanding natural beauty, there is history around Millau. In Roman times, it was famous for its pottery, which was exported all around the empire, from northern Africa to England.
Visitors can walk around the base of the famous piers, or take a boat ride under the viaduct.
A long future ahead
Today, as it approaches its 20th anniversary, the Millau Viaduct is still going strong. Virlogeux says he’s “confident… it can resist a long time.” Where he is still, to this day, working on the Normandy Bridge, which needs regular maintenance, he stopped working on Millau a long time ago.
Each year it saves around 40,000 tons of CO2 emissions from heavy goods vehicles alone, according to Foster’s figures – the equivalent of 40,000 trees absorbing emissions over 40 years.
Gazel says the viaduct – which is part of the A75 autoroute – has changed the image of her town.
“It put us on the world map – when I say I’m mayor of Millau, it doesn’t matter where I am in the world, everyone knows Millau, thanks to the viaduct,” she adds. “The architectural and technological prowess, 20 years on, is still innovative – still extraordinary.”
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Netanyahu defiant as protesters demanding a ceasefire-for-hostages deal bring Israel to a halt
Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to Israel’s streets in fresh fury on Monday over the government’s failure to secure a ceasefire-for-hostages deal with Hamas. Demonstrations could be seen in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Caesarea and other sites across the country, fueled by the killing in Gaza of six hostages, whose bodies were retrieved by Israeli soldiers this weekend.
Several gatherings targeted the homes of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with protesters lighting fires and chanting: “You are the leader - you are guilty!” near one of Netanyahu’s private residences in Caesarea. In Tel Aviv, protesters outside the US Embassy chanted “Shame!” late into the evening, video showed.
Netanyahu has been accused of stalling efforts for a deal by some hostage families and their supporters. More than 100 hostages, including 35 believed to be dead, are still being held in Gaza – the vast majority of them taken during Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel, when some 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 taken captive
The scenes outside the Israeli leader’s homes culminated a day of anger that brought much of the country to a halt, following a call by the country’s largest labor union, known as Histadrut, to shut down the “entire” economy. Flights in and out of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport were also stopped for two hours.
But in a press conference Monday evening, the Israeli leader struck a note of defiance, batting away criticisms – including from US President Joe Biden – that he is not doing enough to secure a deal. He asked for “forgiveness” from the families of the six hostages for failing to bring them back alive, but insisted it should be Hamas that “has to make the concessions.”
He also vowed to retaliate and extract a “heavy price” from the militant group that controls Gaza, for the killing of the six hostages, whose autopsies showed they were shot at short range on Thursday or Friday morning.
Hamas meanwhile escalated its own threats on Monday, with a public warning that more hostages held in Gaza would return “inside coffins” if Israel attempts to free them militarily.
A statement released by the militant group said that its fighters guarding prisoners held in the Palestinian enclave had received “new instructions” on how to deal with hostages if Israeli forces get close, and released an illustrated poster apparently showing hostages threatened with a gun.
Monday saw the largest general strike to have taken place in Israel since March 2023, when there was a similar mass walkout over Netanyahu’s controversial attempts to overhaul the country’s judiciary.
According to union Histadrut, hundreds of thousands of Israelis joined the protests Monday, just a day after half a million took to the streets on Sunday for what protest organizers said was one of the biggest nationwide protests since the outbreak of Israel’s war on Hamas. Israeli police said they had seven demonstrators in Tel Aviv for “violating public order and disrupting traffic.”
‘Netanyahu has made it impossible’
Netanyahu’s defiant stance following the discovery of the six hostage bodies has thrown further doubt on the negotiations for a ceasefire-for-hostages deal.
Even before the killing of the six hostages, the talks had become bogged down, with one key disagreement centering on control of a border area known as the Philadelphi corridor.
Netanyahu says control of the 14-kilometer (8.7-mile) strip of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt is needed to prevent Hamas from resuming arms smuggling through tunnels underneath it. However, the deployment of Israeli troops along the corridor has been a major point of contention between Israel and Hamas in the ceasefire talks, with Hamas saying Israeli troops must withdraw from the border zone.
“Hamas doesn’t want us to be there and that’s why I insist on being there,” the Israeli leader said on Monday.
During a cabinet meeting over the weekend, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had lambasted the Israeli government for what he said was prioritizing control of the corridor over a deal to free hostages, calling it a “moral disgrace.”
The relative of one of the hostages who was shot dead in southern Gaza also blamed Netanyahu and his stance on the corridor for their deaths. Gil Dickmann, the cousin of Carmel Gat, told CNN that the Israeli government “cold-bloodedly” crossed a “red line” by prioritizing the corridor over the lives of the hostages.
“We know that Hamas has agreed to a deal at some point, and Israel was the one putting on more and more terms and actually postponing the deal,” Dickmann said on Monday. “Right now, we know the decisions that our Prime Minister Netanyahu has made it impossible for Carmel and other hostages to return and put their lives in great danger, and that’s what killed them.”
But on Monday, even as he acknowledged dissent within his cabinet, Netanyahu doubled down.
“We’re not going to withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor,” Netanyahu told a press conference on Monday evening. “The axis of evil needs the Philadelphi corridor. We need to have it under our control,” he said.
Disagreements over the corridor are only one of the splits within the cabinet over the conduct of the war that have become increasingly public and rancorous in recent months, reflecting deep divisions at the top of Israel’s government.
Just on Monday, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said he was using his power to prevent a “reckless deal” and ensure “that there will be no negotiations at all.”
He was speaking to members of Gvura, a right-wing organization representing the families of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza.
But American officials described new urgency in reaching a ceasefire-for-hostages deal. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said while meeting the families of Americans held hostage that “the next few days will be critical” in the push to free those still held by Hamas.
Alongside the strikes, the funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the six hostages found dead, was held in Jerusalem on Monday. Speaking at the ceremony, Jon Goldberg-Polin said he hoped his son’s death would be “the fuel that will bring home the remaining 101 hostages.”
“Hersh, we failed you. We all failed you. You would not have failed you. You would have pushed harder for justice,” he said. “You would have worked to understand the other, to bridge differences.”
“The 23 years of life that we had with you were a blessing. We now will work to make your legacy a similar blessing,” Goldberg-Polin said. “You were a really great guy. I love you.”
Strike hits public services, schools
As well as an impact on flights, some Israeli municipalities said they joined the strike, including Tel Aviv and Haifa, according to a list from the Histadrut outlining who joined the action as well as statements from some of the cities.
The list also includes government ministries that impact a wide range of public services, the document shows, including parts of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Interior Ministry, and others. CNN has reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office for comment.
Hospitals and healthcare facilities worked on a weekend schedule and on an emergency basis, according to the statement.
The country’s teachers’ union said it would not join the strike, according to a statement from the union, though support staff at schools did.
However, Israel’s biggest universities joined the strike, including the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv University.
#news #world #breakingnews
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Artificial intelligence has been applied to some of the world's most famous works of art. See the impressive result of the technology era.
Artificial intelligence has revolutionized the art world by reinterpreting and recreating some of the most famous works of art. Through techniques like style transfer, AI algorithms can emulate the distinct styles of iconic artists, blending technology with creativity to produce stunning and innovative visual masterpieces. The results are a testament to the transformative power of AI in the modern era. #Art #IA Read More...
World of Warcraft’s The War Within headstart is live – prepare for a long spoiler-dodging weekend
Depending on how much you shelled out for World of Warcraft’s newest expansion, this is either the best or longest weekend of the year for you. Early access for The War Within kicked off yesterday, with the world-first level 80 happening a shade over an hour later.
WoW players who don’t have access to the head start are advised to stay off the global chat channels, streams, and WoW fan sites as spoilers are being flung around pretty fast and loose right now. Those “left behind” can continue to enjoy the Radiant Echoes event, although this had a nasty (but now corrected) issue where the XP was pretty much disabled.
Meanwhile over in WoW Classic, Blizzard is consolidating all of its Season of Discovery servers to one PvP and one PvE realm per region with free character transfers available. “Most of the origin realms currently still have healthy populations, and we recognize that moving characters can be disruptive to player communities, so this is not a decision we take lightly,” the studio said.
Source: World of Warcraft, 2
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Drought-hit Danube River reveals scuttled German World War II ships
Mohacs, Hungary/Prahovo, Serbia
Reuters
—
The wrecks of explosives-laden Nazi ships sunk in the Danube River during World War II have emerged near Serbia’s river port town of Prahovo, after a drought in July and August that saw the river’s water level drop.
Four vessels dating from before 1950 have also come to light in Hungary’s Danube-Drava National Park near Mohacs, where the Danube’s water level stood at only 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) on Tuesday, the lingering effect of severe heat waves and persistent drought in July and August.
The vessels revealed in Prahovo were among hundreds scuttled along the Danube by Nazi Germany’s Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, destroying the ships themselves. The wrecks can hamper river traffic during low water levels.
Strewn across the riverbed, some of the ships still have turrets, command bridges, broken masts and twisted hulls, while others lie mostly submerged under sandbanks.
Endre Sztellik, a guard at the Danube-Drava national park, said of one of the ships, “we still don’t know what this is exactly. What is visible and an unfortunate fact is that the wreck is diminishing as people are interested in it and parts of it are going missing.”
The Danube stood at 1.17 meters (3.8 feet) in Budapest on Tuesday, which compares with an all-time record low of around 0.4 meters (1.3 feet) registered in October 2018. During floods, the Danube rises well above 6 meters (19.7 feet).
“Eastern Europe is experiencing critical drought conditions that are affecting crops and vegetation,” the European climate service Copernicus said on its website in its latest drought report, published earlier this month.
Long-awaited rainfall set in on Monday, which is expected to raise Danube levels to around 3 meters (9.8 feet) at Mohacs by the weekend, with the river likely to submerge the shipwrecks again.
The level of Poland’s longest river, the Vistula, has fallen to a record low, leaving sandbanks exposed in Warsaw and water so shallow a moose was filmed walking across it in a section in the countryside.
#news
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Iraq postpones plans for US troop withdrawal amid regional tensions
Iraq has postponed announcing an end-date for the US-led military coalition’s presence in the country due to “recent developments,” raising questions about the future of US military presence in the Gulf state amid heightened tension in the region.
Iraq’s Higher Military Commission had aimed to propose an end date for Operation Inherent Resolve, the US military operation combatting terror group ISIS.
“We were very close to announcing this agreement, but due to recent developments, the announcement of the end of the international coalition’s military mission in Iraq was postponed,” a statement by Iraq’s foreign ministry said Thursday, without giving further details on what the “recent developments.”
Tensions are mounting in the region as Israel and the United States brace for a potential Iranian attack on Israel to avenge the killing of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. Iran blames the assassination on Israel, which has not confirmed or denied responsibility.
Iran-backed militias in Iraq are pressuring the Shia-led government to end the US troop’s presence in Iraq.
Several powerful militias in Iraq have stepped up attacks on US sites in the country since October 7, saying in support of people in the Gaza Strip, where they view the US administration as one of Israel’s main allies. In response, the US has launched retaliatory airstrikes inside Iraq targeting the groups.
The US has roughly 2,500 troops currently in Iraq who have been operating there in an “advise and assist” capacity since December 2021, when the US military announced the end of its combat role in the country.
#news #worldnews #cnn
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Harris Gets Progressives’ Stamp of Approval for Tim Walz VP Pick
Progressive support of Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz is not a surprise, considering the alternative is former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance. But there are still issues progressives hope to push Harris left on.
Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate – a decision that not only capitalizes on his proven ability to appeal to swing voters but one that also helps her avoid a possible fissure in the Democratic Party’s support.
Walz was a safe choice for several reasons – not the least of which was that he’s well-liked by progressives whose backing she needs to ensure her base is unified and motivated.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont called Walz a “great asset” to Harris’ campaign.
“He is a former public school teacher, football coach and strong union supporter,” Sanders posted on social media. “As governor, he delivered for working families in MN. As VP, he will deliver for the working families of the U.S.”
Progressives point to Walz’s track record, campaigning for governor on a “One Minnesota” platform that emphasized union organizing, a $15-per-hour minimum wage and assistance for school children and college students.
“Governors Tim Walz and Andy Beshear are persuasive advocates for core Democratic values and will energize voters across America without marginalizing any of the communities that we must engage in order to win the electoral college,” the progressives, who included California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus Chair Emeritus Amar Shergill, wrote.
The group’s main desire was that Harris not pick Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate.
“Governor Shapiro, although a valued member of the Democratic coalition, has made too many controversial policy decisions on issues such as school choice and the environment to be the consensus voice our nation needs right now,” they wrote.
Others expressed worries about Shapiro’s strong support for Israel and the possibility that his stance could alienate progressive voters who are concerned about the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
Harris already garnered the support of leading progressives like Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York before her vice president decision. Still, going with Shapiro would have risked creating a crack in what had otherwise been overwhelming support from the Democratic Party since she announced she was running for president.
Progressive support of Harris is not a surprise, considering the alternative would be former President Donald Trump. And while Trump and his surrogates are eager to characterize Harris as so liberal as to be out of touch with mainstream America, there are certain issues on which progressives hope to push Harris further left.
Sanders recently said that Harris should run on a progressive economic agenda that includes expanding Social Security benefits by making the wealthy pay the same tax rate as the working class, expanding Medicare, cutting the cost of prescription drugs and hiking taxes on rich and multinational corporations.
“Indeed, it is the formula that could give Harris the sort of victory that sweeps in a Democratic Senate and House and allows her to govern in the best tradition of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and Joe Biden’s Build Back Better program,” Sanders wrote in an opinion for The Guardian.
Notably, Harris has moved to the center on a couple of issues she ran on during her 2020 presidential bid, including reversing her stance on a fracking ban.
Though the focus for now is on Harris winning the election, expect progressives to ramp up the pressure on certain issues – including abortion access and climate change – if she does become president.
For example, restoring protections promised under Roe v. Wade won’t be enough for certain reproductive rights groups, who will likely push for abortion protections to go further under a potential Harris administration. And climate advocates, while happy with Harris and Walz on the ticket, will probably want to see progress on slashing fossil fuel production.
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