Integrated macro economic and transport models for freight demand

A research project is under development in Italy, aimed at a Decision Support System for transport policies (SIMPT) at a national level. The project is being supported by the Italian Ministry of Transport. The SIMPT covers different aspects such as demand, supply, economic and external impacts both for passenger and freight (Cascetta, 1995). In this paper the integrated macro-economic and transport models for freight demand are presented. After a general introduction to the integrated freight demand model, the Multi Regional Input-Output model for the simulation of the level and distribution of freight demand will be described; and the problem of data transformation/amplification from values to quantities will be treated. Then a height modal choice model will be dealt with through a disaggregated approach which explicitly considers as decision makers the firms, with a random utility model of choice. Finally, after an example of economic forecasting, some results regarding the range of applications and the constraints of the integrated model are discussed.