Pipeline 101
Shoes

The Trans Alaska Pipeline System has 39,000 “shoes” that hold the pipeline on top of specially designed slider beams that support above ground sections of the pipeline at approximately 60-foot intervals. The slider beams are held in place by vertical supports embedded in the ground. The shoes are Teflon® coated to reduce friction and allow the pipeline to slide horizontally and laterally across the slider beams to accommodate movement from pipe expansion and contraction or seismic activity. The aboveground sections of pipeline are anchored at approximately quarter-mile intervals to limit pipeline movement to specific segments.