The transport sector is a significant part of the Danish economy. It constitutes about 7% of the economy (both measured in GDP and in labour force used), whilst the derived effects for the industry and labour market are much higher. Transport is also important for private house holds. Families thus use 14% of their income on transport and an average adult uses one hour daily on transport. The public sector spends on average 19 billion DKK a year on the transport sector, in addition to the consumption in the private sector.
Construction cost estimates, traffic forecasts, and socio-economic analyses are an important part of the decision support concerning the use of the public funds within the sector. More accurate and less biased models will therefore lead to much better use of these funds, and hence a better balance between the different goals in transport policy (e.g. accessibility, congestion and economic development versus environment, CO2 emissions, energy and safety).
A derived impact of Danish research in this novel area will also be a potential export of good model practice, e.g. a consolidation of the already strong involvement of Danish researchers in the EU-research programmes and development of decision support models for the European Commission.