The province will raise the speed limit on certain highways, including the stretch of Highway 416 from Highway 401 to Ottawa.
Ontario’s Minister of Transportation, Prabmeet Sarkaria, announced the speed limit will increase from 100 km/h to 110 km/h on 10 additional sections of provincial highways in Ontario’s north and south portions.
“Much of Ontario’s highway network was originally designed to safely accommodate speed limits of 110 km/h, and data from our changes in 2022 show they do just that,” Sarkaria said in a statement on Wednesday.
Starting July 12, 2024, the speed limit will increase on most of the following provincial highway sections, with the remainder coming into force before the end of the year:
- Hwy 416 from Hwy 401 to Ottawa (approximately 70 km)
- Hwy 401, Tilbury, extending the existing 110 km/h zone further east by 7 km
- Hwy 401 from Hwy 35/115 to Cobourg (approximately 35 km)
- Hwy 401 from Colborne to Belleville (approximately 44 km)
- Hwy 401 from Belleville to Kingston (approximately 66 km)
- Hwy 401 from Hwy 16 to Quebec boundary (approximately 107 km)
- Hwy 403 from Woodstock to Brantford (approximately 26 km)
- Hwy 403 from Brantford to Hamilton (approximately 14.5 km)
- Hwy 406 from Thorold to Welland (approximately 13 km)
- Hwy 69 from Sudbury to French River (approximately 60 km)
“These evidence-based increases are a common-sense change to make life more convenient for Ontario drivers while bringing our highway speed limits in line with other Canadian provinces,” added Sarkaria.
One year ago, the Ford government announced that six stretches of highway in the province, including Highway 417 from Ottawa to the Quebec border, as well as from the Kanata area to Arnprior, would permanently have their speeds raised to 110 km/h.
The increased speeds on five stretches of the 400-series highways were first implemented when the province launched a pilot project in 2019 to test the speeds on a trial basis.