Copenhagen Economics has helped the Danish Ministry of Transport with quantifying new benefits from roads and railroads. Such investment does not only save travel time and reduce congestion, it also helps create new jobs, increase the number of hours worked and increase firms’ productivity. Applying the method to two investments (Frederikssund motorvej and the road Vejle-Ølholm-Riis) we found that the estimated economic benefits of increase by 10-20 percent when these effects are taken into account.

We concluded that

– The benefits of better infrastructure for employment and for firms’ productivity are important

– The current methods for assessing the benefits to society from a better infrastructure seriously underestimate the benefits, because they do not quantify how much a better infrastructure means for employment and for firms’ productivity.

The report can be found here http://www.trm.dk/sw614.asp

For further information, please contact Partner Martin Hvidt Thelle