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
A74(M) and M74 motorways to meet the M8 south of the Kingston Bridge,in 2010, junctions 1–3 of the First Northern Extension, were renumbered 2A, 3 and 3A to accommodate the new junctions. A74(M) and M74 motorways The A74(M) and M74 form a major motorway in the United Kingdom, mainly in Scotland, with a short section in England. Following an extension opened on 28 June 2011, they connect the M8 motorway west of Glasgow to the English border at Gretna, creating a route from the south to the west of the city. In conjunction with the M6 motorway, they form one of the three major