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
Motorways in the Republic of Ireland at an M6 junction be removed from an adjacent scheme. It is anticipated that service areas will be provided on both the M3 motorway and the proposed M20 motorway. Motorways in the Republic of Ireland In Ireland, the highest category of road is a motorway ("mótarbhealach", plural: "mótarbhealaí"), indicated by the prefix M followed by a one- or two-digit number (the number of the national route of which each motorway forms a part). The motorway network predominantly consists of two-lane dual carriageways and is primarily focused upon Dublin, although there are a few three-lane motorways and the M50 has four