Lancashire four universities: Lancaster University, the University of Central Lancashire, Edge Hill University and the Lancaster campus of the University of Cumbria. Seven colleges offer higher education courses. The Lancashire economy relies strongly on the M6 motorway which runs from north to south, past Lancaster and Preston. The M55 connects Preston to Blackpool and is 11.5 miles (18.3 km) long. The M65 motorway from Colne, connects Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn to Preston. The M61 from Preston via Chorley and the M66 starting inside the county boundary near Edenfield, provide links between Lancashire and Manchester] and the trans-Pennine M62. The M58 crosses the
East Lancashire Railway (1844–1859) 3 August 1846. The B&PR's Act of Parliament also allowed for a connection with the proposed Blackburn, Burnley, Accrington and Colne Extension Railway (BBA&CER), which would run from Stubbins Junction to Accrington, providing a direct link between Blackburn and Colne. A second BBA&CER act allowed it to lease or sell itself to the MB&RR, and so in 1845 the two companies joined. The MB&RR later that year changed its name to the East Lancashire Railway (ELR). The following year, the ELR acquired the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway (LO&PR), which gave it direct access to Liverpool Docks. The LO&PR's line