Increased speed limits soon take effect on some Ontario highways

Drivers will soon be able to speed up a little bit on sections of some Ontario highways and not have to worry about being pulled over and ticketed for it.

Starting this Friday, the speed limit will be permanently raised to 110 km/h on some sections of select provincial highways, with other hiked speed limits to take effect before the end of the year.

On Highway 401, the speed limit will be increased in the following areas:

• at Tilbury, extending the existing 110 km/h zone further east by seven km
• from Highway 35/115 to Cobourg (approximately 35 km)
• from Colborne to Belleville (approximately 44 km)
• from Belleville to Kingston (approximately 66 km)
• from Highway 16 to the Quebec boundary (approximately 107 km)

On Highway 403:

• from Woodstock to Brantford (approximately 26 km)
• from Brantford to Hamilton (approximately 14.5 km)

Also expected to see speed limit increases are:

• Highway 406 from Thorold to Welland (approximately 13 km)
• Highway 416 from Highway 401 to Ottawa (approximately 70 km)
• Highway 69 from Sudbury to French River (approximately 60 km)

In total, the speed limit will permanently increase from 100 km/h to 110 km/h on 10 sections of provincial highways in northern and southern Ontario, the provincial government announced in Hamilton back in late April.

This follows speed limit increases to 110 km/h on six sections of provincial highways in 2019, which were made permanent in April 2022.

The change aligns with posted speed limits in other jurisdictions across Canada.

“Most of Ontario’s highways were originally designed to safely accommodate speed limits of 110 km/h and the data from our changes in 2022 shows they do just that,” the province said earlier. “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.”