Bill 9, the Commercial Vehicle Trip Permit Act will allow the government to collect trip permit fees from commercial vehicle traffic weighing over 12,000 kilograms using the territorial all-weather public highway system. It would not collect permit fees from non-all-weather public highway systems such as ice roads. The trip permit fee is based on a truck's axle configuration and its route through designated highway zones. The larger the truck and the farther it travels, the greater the trip permit fee. There will be no need to weigh each truck. The fee is determined by the truck's carrying capacity and the trip it takes. From the Department of Transportation's perspective (and not necessarily from industry or consumer's perspective), the proposed system would be simple to administer and would allow carriers to obtain trip permits over the telephone.

Under the proposed system, for example, a truck does not need a trip permit if it is empty, if its load begins and ends in the same highway zone, if the trip is only over a seasonal winter road, or is engaged in highway construction.

All fees collected from the Commercial Vehicle Trip Permit Act will be paid into the Public Highway Improvement Fund that is proposed under Bill 10, the Public Highway Improvement Fund Act.

This fund will enable the government to finance reconstruction and upgrading of all existing territorial highways and pay for costs of administrating the trip permit system. It will not finance new highway construction. The department stated that the commercial vehicle trip permit fee on commercial trucking would generate $15 million annually.

Bills 9 and 10 are the foundation of the Department of Transportation's proposed Highway Investment Strategy. The objective of the strategy is to improve the existing territorial all-weather highway system.

The strategy will allow the government to invest $100 million over and above the $48 million planned expenditure over the next four years, in the reconstruction and upgrading of existing all-weather highways throughout the Northwest Territories.