What is the name of the pipeline that transports crude oil from Alaska's North Slope to Valdez?

The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System transports crude oil from Alaska’s North Slope to Valdez.

Usually abbreviated TAPS, the system carries crude from the Prudhoe Bay area south to the Valdez Marine Terminal on Prince William Sound. The core pipeline is about 800 miles long and has a diameter of 48 inches. Valdez was selected as the southern endpoint because its ice-free port allows tankers to load Alaskan crude for shipment to other markets.

Construction began after the large Prudhoe Bay oil discovery in 1968 and took place from 1975 to 1977. Engineers had to design around permafrost, earthquakes, steep mountains and remote terrain. Much of the pipe is elevated on vertical supports so heat from the oil will not melt the frozen ground beneath it; special zigzag sections also allow the line to move during thermal expansion and earthquakes.

TAPS is broader than the pipe alone: it includes pump stations, feeder lines and the Valdez terminal. The first oil reached Valdez on 28 July 1977. The name is sometimes shortened to the Alaska pipeline or Alyeska pipeline, but those labels can refer to the same core route rather than the full transportation system.