But this is no ORDINARY pipeline, running 800 miles across arctic terrain, and with a diameter of 48 inches!
Constructed between 1974 and 1977, the pipeline was begun after the 1973 oil crisis caused the U.S. to look harder at domestic sources of oil. Oil was discovered in Prudhoe Bay (on Alaska's north slope on the Arctic Ocean) but the pipeline would make it feasible to use the oil found there.
The pipeline crosses three mountain ranges and over 800 rivers and streams on its way south to Valdez, where the oil is loaded into tanker ships.
The task of building the pipeline had to address a wide range of difficulties, stemming mainly from the extreme cold and the difficult, isolated terrain. The construction of the pipeline was one of the first large-scale projects to deal with problems caused by permafrost, and special construction techniques had to be developed to cope with the frozen ground.
The builders also had to deal with impacts to wildlife and other legal challenges. The design includes more than 500 "animal crossing" areas where the pipeline is elevated to a height of at least 10 feet to allow wildlife to pass beneath it.
During peak construction, more than 28,000 workers were employed, creating construction boom towns along the route.
Today over a million barrels of oil move through the pipeline each day. The oil moves at about 5.5 miles per hour and requires just under six days to travel from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.
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