The province will raise the speed limit on certain highways, including Hwy. 401 and Hwy. 403.
Ontario’s Minister of Transportation, Prabmeet Sarkaria, announced that as of July 12, 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.
A 26-kilometre stretch of Hwy. 403 from Woodstock to Brantford and a 60-kilometre stretch between Sudbury and French River will also increase speed limits.
“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.
Speed limits will also rise along a 35-kilometre stretch on Hwy. 401 from Hwy. 35/115 to Cobourg.
One year ago, the Ford government announced that six stretches of highway in the province, including part of Hwy. 404 in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) would permanently have their speeds raised to 110 kilometres per hour.
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.
In March 2022, the province announced a 30-year plan for public transit and highway expansions across the GTA and Golden Horseshoe, with plans to spend $82 billion in the next decade.