The trans-European transport networks (TETN) are one of the most ambitious initiatives of the European Community since its foundation. The masterplans for rail, road, waterways, ports and airports together require public and private investment between 400 and 500 billion ECU until the year 2010. However, critics argue that the TETN programme primarily serves the objective of economic competitiveness of Europe and not the equally important objective of reducing economic disparities between the regions in Europe. In the face of this goal conflict, the consistent prediction and the rational and transparent evaluation of likely socio-economic impacts of major transport infrastructure investments and transport system improvements become of primary political importance both for the European Union and its member states.

The project "Socio-Economic and Spatial Impacts of Transport Infrastructure Investments and Transport System Improvements" (SASI) was conducted in the years 1996-1999 for DG VII (Transport) of the European Commission as part of the 4th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development.

The project aimed at the development of a comprehensive and transferable methodology for forecasting the socioeconomic and spatial impacts of large transport investments in Europe, in particular of different scenarios of the development of the trans-European transport networks (TETN) planned by the European Commission. With respect to the cohesion objective of the European Union the model was to answer the question which regions of the European Union are likely to benefit from the TETN and which regions are likely to be disadvantaged.

To achieve this objective the project focused on

-	developing a comprehensive, consistent and transferable methodology for the prediction of the impacts of transport infrastructure investments and transport system improvements (road, rail and air) on socioeconomic activities and development, including spatial and temporal distribution of impacts;

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designing a dynamic simulation model forecasting the development of accessibility, GDP, employment, population and labour force in 201 regions of the European Union until the year 2016 subject to assumptions about the future economic performance of the European economy as a whole, about immigration and outmigration across Europe's borders, about transfer payments by the European Union via the Structural Funds and about policy decisions with respect to the trans-European transport networks;

-	demonstrating the usability of the modelling system by applying it to a number of relevant case studies in the framework of various scenarios of political, social and economic developments.

The developed methodology and modelling system is innovative in that is is based on measurable indicators derived from advanced location-theory approaches to explain and predict the locational behaviour of investment capital and manufacturing and service activities and population. It is pragmatic and feasible in that it does not require massive and repeated collection of data on socio-economic distributions or trade flows and travel patterns. It is designed to facilitate political discussion and negotiation by being transparent, understandable and open for new indicators and issues that may become relevant in the future.

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